Professional Development – Page 164

June 16, 2010August 18, 2022

Transformational Leadership: What are the Differences that Make a Difference?

Business executive wearing a grey blazer

The Four Transformational Leadership Behaviors

According to Bass, transformational leadership is comprised of four primary behaviors. The first is idealized influence, when leaders act in ways consistent with their stated beliefs, goals, and values, following through on commitments, and treating people in a consistent and fair manner. The second behavior is inspirational motivation, when leaders effectively communicate visions for the future of the organization and convey how the work of individuals and teams are connected to the vision. The third behavior is referred to as intellectual stimulation, the leader’s ability to create a work environment where followers feel safe to think creatively, challenge the status quo, and come up with innovative ideas. The final behavior, individualized consideration, is when leaders help followers identify personal development goals and design customized strategies for making improvements on these goals.

The Impact of Transformational Leadership

There is empirical evidence that these four behavior areas have statistically significant impact on various indices of organizational performance and business outcomes. In my previous blog it was shared that there is a clear correlation between transformational behaviors and increased innovation, motivation, perseverance, commitment, team cohesion, and performance.

The Transformational Behaviors that Make a Difference

So what are the specific behaviors that make the difference that makes the differences? The following are a list of ten behaviors, considered to be transformational, that have an impact on some of the target areas just mentioned.

Challenging and empowering team members to think independently and consider novel solutions to old or emerging problems is believed to increase the innovative capacity of organizations (Nederveen et al, 2010)
Empowering team members to think and act independently has been shown to reduce barriers to the sharing and utilization of knowledge across organizations boundaries (Garcia-Morales et al, 2007)
Establishing a clear understanding of the connection between the tasks/values of team members and the vision/values of the organization is shown to increase individual motivation (Wolfram and Mohr, 2009)
When a leader espouses a high level of ethics and acts in accord with these ethical standards an increase in follower trust and commitment should follow – variables with a direct correlation to performance (Rafferty and Griffin, 2006)
There is an apparent link between the degree to which a leader respects and attends to the emotions and professional needs of team members and the level of team member commitment and performance (Bass, 2006)
Inspirational, enthusiastic, and animated communication of organizational vision has been shown to enhanced team cohesion (Ayoko & Callan, 2010)
Success of change initiatives increase significantly when leaders include team members in the development of the vision for the future and the demonstrate a clear commitment to that vision (Herold, et al, 2008)
Commitment to organizational change initiatives increase if leaders are expressive, confident, and are able to incorporate values into change conversations with team members (Howarth & Rafferty, 2009)
The use of image-based messages and the ability to incorporate organizational goals into a compelling vision of the future has an apparent connection with team performance (Colbert et al, 2008)
Inspiring and empowering team members to embrace and pursue challenging goals and professional development has been shown to improve project success (Prabhakar, 2005)

The above is evidence of a correlation between specific transformational behaviors and various team member and organizational outcomes. But one must ask, are these behaviors unique to transformational leadership? If not, can it really be argued that there is a connection between transformational leadership and improved organizational performance? Please feel free to share your thoughts or questions on the topic.

June 14, 2010March 21, 2023

Working on Ourselves, as Consultants

Why It’s Important to Work On Ourselves, as Consultants

The world as we experience it is the product of perception not the cause of it. As people we are not passive receptors of stimuli coming from an external world, but in a very concrete sense we create much of our reality. This is why it is so important for consultants to “work on” ourselves.

Our language shapes most of our concepts and thoughts. What also influences us is our own experience of power and powerlessness; our relations with authority and authority figures, our propensities to handle conflict one way rather than another, our capacity to deal with uncertainty and ambiguity, all these and more aid and inhibit our perception of our realities. Sometimes consulting is operating in a house of mirrors. What is me and what is not me are important to differentiate.

Differentiation itself is an act of maturity, forging an identity as a consultant and what you will do and what you will not do is important, but not as important as knowing your own issues while in the midst of others. Who am I here and what is my purpose, and what are those things that “hook” me is equally as important as knowing who your client is and how they are getting in their own way. It is always easier to see this in other people.

Growing Ourselves

I have just finished reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett, which is the story of a woman in Jackson, Mississippi during the 1960s in the midst of the civil rights struggle, writing about the lives of black maids. The narrator discovers her own assumptions and begins to see new things, which had previously been unconscious. Consulting in the field of organization development is a vehicle for personal and collective growth. As we grow we see ourselves and each other, and our reality before us differently. I referred to this two posts ago. When I was younger I had lots of ambition and passion, I was impatient. As I get older I have learned to discover compassion for others and for myself.

I would suggest our readers to explore Peter Senge’s Ladder of Inference. It is a visual tool to examine our own assumptions and fears, and see how we get in our own way of diagnosing the situation clearly. The data we select to make sense of our world is a reflection of our own beliefs and assumptions and experience.

Abraham Maslow once commented that one measure of health is the ability to perceive reality accurately. Think about it.

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For more resources, see the Library topics Consulting and Organizational Development.

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Jim Smith has over 40 years of organization development experience in a wide range of organizations. He can be reached at [email protected]

June 14, 2010August 18, 2022

Meatloaf or Tartare?

I recently encountered an organization that’s on the cusp of a big change … a change about which its huge constituency is feeling a bit uncertain.

The agency has never had a chief executive, and that’s part of the new picture that has some supporters skeptical. After all, things have gone okay without one, why spend the money on another administrator?

Like the Chinese symbol for “crisis,” this moment of change represents both opportunity and danger.

On the one hand, bringing in a new leader with energy, ideas, expertise, and commitment could take this organization to a new level of efficacy and service.

On the other hand, just bringing someone in for this new position is stretching the comfort zone of many important supporters.

So, what’s a Board to do?

In the lifecycles of a nonprofit organization, it’s critical that the mindset of the board and the chief executive are in sync about where the organization should be heading … and more critically, how fast it should be heading there.

Many board/executive marriages get off to a rocky start when the board looks to engage the type of leader they “think” they want rather than what they REALLY want or are comfortable with.

In other words, a board that is in “maintenance” mode – that is, it is seeking to promote the stability of the organization to a nervous constituency – should recognize that bringing on a passionate innovator at that moment in its organizational development may actually impede the agency’s progress.

The same is true of a nonprofit in which the board is ready to significantly advance the mission, operations, or reach of the organization, but chooses an executive counterpart that is risk- or innovation-averse.

Like the marriage between the big-time biker and America’s sweetheart, at some point, something’s going to give, and it’s the organization, ultimately, that will suffer from the strain.

All ground beef is not created equal. Don’t order steak tartare if what you REALLY want is meatloaf … and vice-versa.

Fare well, and farewell until next week …

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For more resources, see our Library topic Nonprofit Capacity Building.

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June 13, 2010August 18, 2022

Coaching Tip – A Simple Tool to Ask for Feedback

A common theme that emerges with many of my coaching clients is that they would like more feedback. They would like to know if they are doing a good job and are on track with what is expected of them. Further, if they are not meeting the expectations, they would like to know what they need to do differently.

I encourage my clients to “coach up” by being proactive and ask for feedback.

Here is a simple feedback tool that works for many situations:

Ask: What should I start doing, stop doing and continue to do?

Another variation is: What should I do more of, less of and continue to do?

These simple questions can help you get specific feedback and information that can help you stay on top of your game.

Try this tool and give me your feedback on how it worked for you.

For more resources, see the Library topic Personal and Professional Coaching.

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Pam Solberg-Tapper MHSA, PCC – I spark savvy business leaders to fire up their cutting edge, be extraordinary and do great things in their world. How can I help you?

Contact me at [email protected] or Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/pam-solberg-tapper/13/600/745

June 10, 2010August 18, 2022

Does Transformational Leadership Make a Difference?

One Black Chess Piece Separated From Red Pawn Chess Pieces

How is it Transformational?

The name “transformational leadership” is sometimes meant to denote the transformation of team members from a focus on individual goals to a commitment to the goals of the organization. Another way of looking at it is the transformation that takes place in an organization as its members become more committed, motivated, and aligned with the vision and values of the organization. If one were to try and provide a bottom line objective of transformational leadership, it might be referred to as a leader’s efforts to align his or her goals, and the goals of team members, with the strategic goals of the organization. This description comes after distilling the theory of transformational leadership, into an approach to leadership (replete with specific leader behaviors), and demonstrating the connection with these behaviors and business outcomes. It has taken about 35 years to arrive at this place.

Where Does Transformational Leadership Make a Difference?

The following are some of the outcomes that have been reasonably well correlated with transformational leadership.

Innovation

There is evidence that transformational leadership behaviors (especially intellectual stimulation) can increase the overall innovative capacity of team members and, subsequently, organizations as a whole. In order for this to happen it is important that, in addition to intellectual stimulation, that leaders are go out of their way to empower team members to think creatively. It is also very helpful if team members view the organization as one that rewards innovation and initiative and that is committed to excellence.

Motivation and Perseverance

There appears to be a clear link between transformational behaviors and the level of motivation and perseverance toward goals demonstrated by team members. The best part of this connection is the corresponding link if motivation and perseverance with overall organizational performance. It is important to note that motivation can move rather quickly in the opposite direction if transformational behaviors are used with team members that are feeling overworked.

Commitment

There seems to be a firm connection between the commitment that team members have to a particular leader, group, or organization, and the demonstration of transformational behavior by organizational leaders. It is evident that one of the key variables is trust. That is, when team members trust organizational leaders, their commitment level rises accordingly.

Organizational Change

It is interesting how long it has taken for anything more than anecdotal evidence of a link between transformational behaviors and successful navigation and execution of organizational change initiatives. In the past couple of years this connection has become more firmly established. It is not surprising that the connection was hard to establish, as there are a multitude of factors – some totally unrelated to leadership — that contribute to the viability of change initiatives.

How does Transformational Leadership Make a Difference?

The next question has to deal with the relative influence of specific transformational behaviors on the above mentioned outcomes. My next entry is intended to provide some insight into these behaviors. In the mean time, feel free to share your reactions to the outcome data.

June 10, 2010February 10, 2023

Different Domains of Leadership and Skills Needed in Each

The text "skills" written on a black background

We often generalize leadership and skills to be the same traits needed all the time and everywhere by all leaders. Is leadership really that simple? Let’s look at different domains of leadership and the different skills that are needed in each.

Leading Yourself

To effectively lead yourself, useful skills are, for example:

physical fitness
decision making and problem solving
critical thinking
setting personal goals
prioritizing
time and stress management
self-coaching
emotional intelligence
motivating yourself
work-life balance

Here’s many resources about leading yourself.

Leading Others Individuals

To effectively lead others, you need to effectively lead yourself and have additional skills, for example:

Coaching
Counseling (basic)
Feedback
Listening
Questioning
Understanding body language
Delegating
Directing

Here’s many resources about leading others.

Leading Groups/Teams

To effectively lead groups or teams, you need skills to lead others and have additional skills, for example:

Agenda design
Facilitation
Consensus building
Group decision making and problem solving
Meeting management

Here’s many resources about leading groups and teams.

Leading Organizations

To effectively lead organizations, you need skills to lead yourself, other individuals and teams, along with skills, for example:

Strategic planning
Business planning
Organizational development and change
At least one organizational performance model, for example, Balanced Scorecard or strategic management

Here’s many resources about leading organizations.

So when identifying necessary skills in leadership, it’s not enough to imagine a long list of wondrous traits. Leadership is much more situational than that.

What do you think?

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Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD – Authenticity Consulting, LLC – 800-971-2250
Read my weekly blogs: Boards, Consulting and OD, Nonprofits and Strategic Planning.

June 10, 2010August 18, 2022

7 Options for “Success” in Consulting Projects

As a consultant, your perception of project “success” is the basis from which your client and you conclude, for example, whether the project is of high quality, that money paid to you was well spent, that you did a good job as a consultant, and whether you might be hired again (if you are an external consultant). Early in the project, it is important for you and your client to discuss how to determine the success of the project.

Unfortunately, determining whether a project was successful or not is not nearly as easy as it might seem because there are numerous perspectives on what is project “success.” Therefore, it is important to consider all of these perspectives, especially about a complex – and usually changing – project

Consider the following possible definitions of what might be considered as “success” in your consulting project, and work with your client to select one or more.

Definition of Success #1: Desired outcomes and results listed in the project agreement are achieved.

Both you and your client should somehow specify the overall results that the project is to achieve. Ideally, the results are described in terms such that you both could readily discern if the results were achieved or not. This outcome is often a measure as to whether the project was successful or not.

Definition of Success #2: The client’s problem is solved.

More times than people realize, the originally specified project results have little to do with actually solving the most important problem in your client’s organization. That occurs because, as you and your client work together to examine and address their overall problem, you both realize that there is a more important problem to address. At that time, it is wise to change your project plans if both of you agree. Discuss the new results that you prefer and how you will know whether or not they are achieved.

Still, later on, your client might believe that any agreed-to results that were achieved from the project were not as important as addressing any current, unsolved problems, so your client might still conclude that the project was not as successful as it should have been. Or, your client might believe that any achieved results were actually more useful than addressing the original problem that you discussed, so your client might still conclude that the project was highly successful.

Definition of Success #3: The project is finished on time and within budget.

Often, your client has limited resources in terms of money and time. Therefore, any project that did not require more time and money than expected might be considered successful. That might be true, especially if your client has the philosophy that there are always problems to be solved in any organization and that the project was done as best as could be done.

Definition of Success #4: You and your client maintain a high-quality, working relationship.

The quality of your relationship with your client is often directly associated with what the client perceives to be the quality of the project. In a highly collaborative approach to consulting, you want your relationship with your client to be as open, honest and trusting as possible. The nature of the relationship supports your client’s strong, ongoing commitment and participation in the project itself, which, in turn, helps to ensure that the project effectively addresses problems in their organization.

Definition of Success #5: Your client learns to address similar problems by themselves in the future.

This outcome should be one of the major goals for any consultant. However, the exact nature of the problem may never arise in the client’s organization again, so it is often difficult to assess if the client has learned to solve that problem. Also, few consultants are willing to scope a project to the time required to assess whether a client really can solve the same type of problem in the future.

Definition of Success #6: Your client says that they would hire you again (if you are an external consultant).

One of the most powerful outcomes is that you both are willing to work with each other again. One of the ethical considerations for any consultant is to avoid creating a dependency of the client on the consultant – where the client cannot capably participate in the organization without the ongoing services of the consultant.

However, it is not uncommon that the client strongly believes that the quality of the relationship with the consultant is as important as the consultant’s expertise. The client might choose to use that consultant wherever and whenever they can in the future.

Definition of Success #7: You get paid in full.

However, you might feel good about the quality and progress of a project only to conclude, later on, if you have not been paid as promised, that the project was not successful.

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For more resources, see the Library topics Consulting and Organizational Development.

(This blog post was adapted from the Field Guide to Consulting and Organizational Development by Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD, Authenticity Consulting, LLC

What do you think?

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Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD – Authenticity Consulting, LLC – 763-971-8890
Read my weekly blogs: Boards, Consulting and OD, Nonprofits and Strategic Planning.

June 10, 2010August 18, 2022

A is for Aliveness

While reading Deepak Chopra’s book Creating Affluence: The A-Z Steps to a Richer Life, I thought it would be fun to write a series of blog posts using the same type of approach. Each week I’ll share the A-Z inspirations for bringing your spirituality to work. When I thought of what “A” would be many possibilities came to mind – authenticity, alignment and abundance were some great examples that I could use. However, I decided to go with aliveness.
A friend gave me a great card titled “How To Really Be Alive.” When I started reflecting on what being alive at work really means or looks like, it reminds me of the essence of what spirituality in the workplace is really all about: to be fully alive by bringing your whole self to work.
Here are some thoughts as to what an acronym for the word alive could be along with some lively descriptors in quotes from the card.

A = Accomplishment. For many of us feeling alive is related to the notion of accomplishment. Whether it is internal or external, the sense of working hard toward a meaningful goal and eventually accomplishing it is what helps us to “live juicy.”

L = Love. Love for someone or love of something usually brings us more meaning and helps us feel more alive. Yet how can we show our love for others at work? I showed in a training the other day a behind-the-scenes video of the world famous Pike’s Place Fish Market in Seattle. The owner of the store shared how he has the best crew since the 35 years he’s been there. It struck me that he actually used the words, “I love them and they love me.”

I = Infinity. The card challenges us to “believe in everything” because “the miracle is you.” When we can tap into our never-ending reservoir of belief the possibilities are endless.

V = Vitality. How can we bring more spirit, spunk, fervor and zest into our work? According to the card, we should “spin ourselves dizzy” or “hang upside down.” This high-energy approach to work is contagious, keeping us and our coworkers engaged!

E = Ecstatic. The card even describes ideas of how to be extremely happy. “Be ridiculous.” “Drink sunsets.” Or better yet, “keep toys in the bathtub!” When we are ecstatic with our work and co-workers we automatically increase our satisfaction level.

How do you come alive? If you had to pick which words brought you life at work, what would they be?

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For more resources, see our Library topic Spirituality in the Workplace.

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June 10, 2010March 28, 2023

Mailbag: Comments From Our Readers

One of the nice things about writing a blog is getting comments. And now that the Free Management Library blogs are attracting more than 10,000 readers each week (wow!), we’re glad to hear what readers are thinking. Here are two particularly interesting recent comments:

On whether the “social” in social enterprise is redundant, Andy Horsnell wrote, quoting the book Mission Inc by Kevin Lynch and Julius Walls, Jr: “After all, a business cannot survive without meeting a social need, real or invented. One could craft an argument, no matter how hollow, that any enterprise is a social one: the NFL’s purpose is to provide an escape from everyday life; the fashion industry’s purpose is to create and celebrate beauty; the beer industry’s purpose is to help a guy take the edge off after a hard day. So, yes, if you really want to argue about it, every business has a social purpose. But we all know better than that. Some things really matter, and some things really don’t. Those things that matter are part of what we might call the common good, and everything else just isn’t. We would argue that the social purpose that is this target of any social enterprise must be squarely aligned with this concept of the common good.”

On social franchising, Adrian Aston wrote: “I’ve been active in social franchising since 1998 ‘over the pond’ here in the UK – we certainly seem to be a bit behind your thinking and stages of development in this field. I’m just finishing a thesis paper critically reviewing the tools available to social enterprises in the UK who are considering franchising as a growth strategy, but thought you might also be interested in some of my other writings on this subject to date to get a feel for ‘the British perspective’ –
http://thirdsectorexpert.blogspot.com/2010/03/franchising-social-enterprises.html “

Keep sending in your comments. And if anyone wants to write a guest blog, just let me know.

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Copyright © 2010 Rolfe Larson Associates – Fifteenth Anniversary, 1995 – 2010
Author of Venture Forth! Endorsed by the late Paul Newman of Newman’s Own
Read my weekly blogs on Social Enterprise and Business Planning

June 10, 2010August 17, 2022

Announcing The Ono Awards

Does this bird look familiar? If not, let me introduce you to “Ono the Ostrich,” the long-time official mascot of my Crisis Manager email newsletter.

Now, I’ve launched The Ono Awards to honor those whose public statements embody the image displayed by Ono. And the winner of the first Ono Award is…..here.

Readers are encouraged to recommend candidates for future awards!

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. , an international crisis management consultancy, and author of Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training.]