Leadership To Transform the Mentoring
Movement
Prepared for the National Mentoring Summit
Arlington, VA; January 2014
"There are many people who think they want to be
matadors, only to find themselves in the ring with
two thousand pounds of bull bearing down on them,
and then discover that what they really wanted was
to wear tight pants and hear the crowd roar.
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Welcome
What You Should Walk Away With:
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A framework for leadership work
A better understanding of yourself as a leader
An understanding of low and high performance
How to diagnose for leadership & high performance work
Leadership functions, tools and competencies
Ideas about where leaders spend their time
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Traditional Leadership
Mindset
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New Collective Leadership Mindset
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The Role of Leaders
According to businessman & author Max De Pree, whose
leadership moved his company to the top of the Fortune 500:
The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is
to say thank you. In between the two, the leader must
become a servant and a debtor.
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What is Leadership?
• Leadership is a body of work
• Everybody has to do leadership work to get
performance
• It’s a journey; not a destination.
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What is the one thing that every leader must
have?
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Followers!
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Outdated Models
Boss/CEO
Managers
Workers
Where and When Did This Come From?
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A Brief History Lesson
• Work Is Holistic – 1800s
– Shoemaker
• Work Is Compartmentalized – 1900s
– Assembly Lines
– Factories
• Work Is Holistic Again – 2000s
– More Access to Information and Knowledge
– Global
– Fast
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Why Do We Still Use It?
Do We Still Believe in an “All Powerful Oz”?
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The Nature of Change
Then
Now
__________
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Sir Ernest Shakleton
“Persons wanted for hazardous journey, small
wages, bitter cold, long months of complete
darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and
Recognition in case of success.”
[In London Newspaper, 1906]
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Would you go on this voyage?
Do you think that anyone did?
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My New Hero – John Horse
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1963 March on Washington – A Lesson in
Leadership and High Performance
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Leadership or Management?
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A Manager
Manager vs. Leader
Competencies
Has short-range perspective.
Plans how and when
Eyes the bottom line
Imitates others.
Accepts the status quo.
Does things correctly.
Seeks continuity.
Focuses on goals for improvement.
Power is based on position or authority.
Demonstrates skill in technical competence.
Demonstrates skill in administration.
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A Leader
Has a long-range perspective
Asks What? and Why?
Eyes the horizon
Originates.
Challenges the status quo.
Does the correct thing.
Seeks change.
Focuses on goals of innovation.
Power is based on personal
influence.
Demonstrates skill in selling the
vision
Demonstrates skill in dealing
with ambiguity.
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3 Kinds of Work
Leadership work
Thinking long-term
Looking beyond your unit, grasping the relationships to others
Reaching and influencing constituents
Putting emphasis on vision or values
Management Work
Focusing on production and process, monitoring quality and
quantity
Technical Work
Doing the actual work, performing the task, hands on
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Exercise – Where Do You Spend Your Leadership Time?
• Think of a typical week
• What kinds of activities did you do during the week,
by the day part (morning, afternoon, after school,
after work)
• List the activities by indicating whether they were
leadership, management or technical. (see chart on
next slide)
• Take one management or technical activity and think
of how to turn it into a leadership activity.
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Activity
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T
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Leadership Work Gets Better Performance
Where leaders spend their time
More
Important
Urgent
•Crises
•Deadline driven
projects
•Pressing
problems
QI
Not Urgent
•Prevention
•Capacity building
•Relationship
building
1st
LAST
Less
Important
3rd
•Some meetings, some
calls
•Proximate, pressing
matters
•Some reports, mail
In High
Performance,
work is
concentrated in
Quadrants I and
II
2nd
•Trivia, busy work
•Some phone calls
•Time wasters
QIII
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QII
QIV
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Approaches to Leading and Teaching
HIGH
Level of
commitment
and
understanding
by all those
involved
Depth of
Learning
Teach
Them
Capacity
for
continuous
generation
of leaders
Sell them
Tell Them
Amount of
time
required
Command Them
LOW
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What is “High Performance”
The leadership work that is done to achieve
targeted outcomes that improve the quality of life
for our customers
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High Performance
• Why we strive for high performance
– A higher moral purpose
• Customer’s lives, families, self sufficiency, and
communities well being.
• Create an organization that taps into the energy of its
employees around the well-being of children and
families.
• High stakes for low performance: children, adults, and
families at risk
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Markers of Performance
Lower Performance Organizations
Management Philosophy and Style
Problem Driven
Rule-bound; system focused
Centralized control of information, resources,
decision making
Communication generally top down or not at all
Few opportunities for participation or
interactions with management
Often win/lose or adversarial mindset internally
and externally
Ends and means often confused
Authority and Responsibility
Top knows “best”
Little risk taking; territorial/isolated
Parent/child interactions
Fear and punishment are primary motivators
Disagreement seen as disloyal
No self or organizational renewal
Competition in problem solving
Short-term perspective
Quality not integrated into process/work
methods
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Higher Performance Organizations
Management Philosophy and Style
Vision and value driven; well articulated and shared
throughout the organization
Focus on customers
Results based
Communication, decision making dispersed
throughout the organization
Information used for problem-solving and selfguidance
Win/win mindset internally and externally
Authority and Responsibility
Each individual takes responsibility for own actions;
has a personal sense of efficacy
Adult/adult interactions
Self-expression, making a contribution are primary
motivators
Individual and organizational renewal
Collaboration in problem solving
Larger, longer-term perspective
Continuous improvement mindset
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Exercise 4
• Take a minute of “I” time and review the markers
• Briefly discuss/describe them
• Select one marker from the “red” or low performing side and
describe why it is a concern for the organization
• Select one from the “purple” or high performing side, and
discuss why it is a good thing or value add for the organization
• Take one marker in the “red”, and discuss how to move it to
the “purple” or high performance
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Set Direction
High Performance
Set Boundaries
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Create Alignment
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Quick Quiz!!
• What was the name of the star ship in the hit TV
series Star Trek?
• What was the mission of the captain & the crew?
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Space - the Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the
starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: To explore strange
new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To
boldly go where no man has gone before.
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Was this the original mission statement?
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This is Gene Roddenberry's’ initial mission
statement…
This is the adventure of the United Space Ship Enterprise.
Assigned a five year galaxy patrol, the bold crew of the
giant starship explores the excitement of strange new
worlds, uncharted civilizations, and exotic people.
These are its voyages and its adventures.
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Justin Black’s contribution…
Space, the final frontier. Endless. Silent. Waiting.
This is the story of the United Space Ship
Enterprise. Its mission: a five year patrol of the
galaxy. To seek out and contact all alien life. To
explore. To travel the vast galaxy, where no
man has gone before. A Star Trek.
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What Do You Know About Your Organization?
What is the vision of your work here?
What are the Core Values of the organization?
How do you know this?
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Leadership Exercise
•
•
•
•
•
Think of someone that you followed.
Why did you follow them?
What did they demonstrate or show you?
What did they believe?
What would they not tolerate?
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Big Ideas
Values
Energy
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Edge
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Big Ideas
– Encompassing, metaphorical; sets direction and keeps
people focused on the same goals; something everyone
in the organization can contribute to
• We won’t have any nursing home that I wouldn’t put my
mother in
• Every child will enter school ready to learn
• Every child has a right to a childhood
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Big Ideas
• “I am the Greatest”
• “Let’s put a man on the moon”
• “Let us develop a kind of dangerous
unselfishness.”
• “Each One Teach One”
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What is my best hope for the mentoring
movement in America/the World?
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Big Ideas Must Be…
•
•
•
•
Clear
Concise
Consistent
Compelling
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The Paradox of Ideas
Quantum
Ideas
Trans-formation
(aka BIG IDEAS)
Incremental
Ideas
Continuous
Improvement
(aka little ideas)
Evolutionary
Change
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Revolutionary
Change
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Values
Core values are traits or qualities that you
consider not just worthwhile, they represent an
individual's or organization's highest priorities,
deeply held beliefs, and core, fundamental
driving forces. Core values define what your
organization believes and how you want your
organization resonating with and appealing to
employees and the external world.
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Big Idea Exercise - Values
Its 10 – 15 years in the future, and you
encounter someone you or your program
mentored. What do you want them to say
about the experience?
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Edge-Exercise
If those statements or comments are your
values statements, and your belief about the
people who came to you for help, then what
won’t you tolerate?
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Edge
• What is your “line in the sand” about
mentoring?
• What won’t you tolerate?
• What will cause you to take action to stop
something from happening?
• How will people know what your “edge”
decisions are?
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Energy
•
•
•
•
•
The thing that makes you go “Yea Baby”!
The reason that you come to work.
The reason that you got into this business.
What energizes you?
What energizes others around you?
(team/division/agency)
• What de-energizes you and others?
• What will you do to stop the energy leaks?
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Energy-Exercise
What are the things about this work that
energize you?
How do you create, maintain and contribute to
an environment where people want to
perform at their best?
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Winning Organizations & Movements…
•
•
•
•
Have strong values
Everyone knows the values
Everyone knows what they look like
Decisions are made that are consistent with the
values
• The organization finds ways to energize it’s
members
• Edge decisions are made & people can see when &
where the tough calls are made
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DEVELOP YOUR LEADERSHIP LENS
Look for Places and Opportunities to do More
Leadership and High Performance Work
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Diagnose Your Organization’s Leadership System - Setting
Boundaries
SYSTEM 1
Exploitative
Autocratic
SYSTEM 2
Benevolent
Autocratic
SYSTEM 3
Consultative
SYSTEM 4
Participative
SYSTEM “0”
Laissez Faire
COMMUNICATION
Down
Only
Mostly
Down
Up &
Down
Up, Down, and
Sideways
Mixed
(mostly within
technical areas)
GOALS SET
Top Down
Top Down
At Top, with
Consultation
Group
Participation
Mixed
(sometimes not set at
all)
TEAMWORK
None
Little
Some
Much
Mixed
(mostly on technical
issues)
Security
Money
Status
Growth
Recognition
Identity
Achievement
Influence
Higher Level
(from outside
organization)
Hostile
Mixed
(toward
negative)
Mixed
(toward)
positive
Favorable
Mixed
(positive toward job
but
not org.)
Mediocre
Fair to
Good
Good to
Excellent
Excellent
Mixed
(poor to good)
EMPLOYEE
MOTIVATION
EMPLOYEE
ATTITUDES
OUTPUT
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Developed by AHPSA
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Diagnose Leadership Philosophies; Find and Fill
Leadership Gaps With High Performance Work
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Winning Leaders and Organizations
• Clearly articulate a set of values for the entire
organization
• Embody the values with their own behavior
• Encourage others to apply the values in their own
decisions and actions
Adapted from The Leadership Engine by Noel Tichy
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Walking the Talk
“Stumble the Mumble”
o Values
“Walk the Talk”
o Values
– Children & families are
important
– Trust, openness, inclusiveness
– Actions
• Children & families will be safe,
have enough food, thrive, be
successful
• Children & families will be a
part of the process
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– Children & families are
important
– Trust, openness, inclusiveness
– Actions
• People suffer, not enough to
go around, poverty, crime,
etc.
• You make all of the decisions
for the children & families.
They are not included
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Aligning Values & Behaviors
• Not settling for achieving results or honoring agency values.
• High Performance requires both!
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Results
Results
Honoring Values
No Values
No Results
No Results
Honoring Values
No Values
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The Nature of People
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A good leader inspires people to have confidence
in the leader, a great leader inspires people to
have confidence in themselves
- Eleanor Roosevelt
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Leadership Tools
• Time
• Behavior
• Attention
• Decisions
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Where do you spend your leadership time?
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Leadership and Management in the Networked Talent Model
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Longer)Term
Top of the
Organization
Time Horizon
Leadership
100 % +
0%
Percent of Time
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Shorter)Term
Task Management
1st Line
Worker
Level in Organization
Focus of Attention
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Behavior can Increase Leadership Capacity
•You are a role model – your staff and your peers observe what
you do. Be the leader you want to be lead by.
•You can stop saying we/they about the field vs. home office or
between Divisions or between units or facilities.
•You can stop complaining about other divisions, other parts of
the organization.
•Model respect – being on time is one way to do this.
•If your staff meetings are not focused on outcomes, change
them.
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Time and Attention
• You send a signal to everyone around you about where you spend
your time, about what is important.
• As a manager/supervisor spend time where performance is not
happening.
• What meetings do you go to? Are they focused on outcomes?
• What do you do with your meeting time? Going around the room
for a report out of what everyone did with their time is a waste of
time. Ask instead: "What did you do this week to accomplish the
agency mission? Whose help do you need?”
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• Do you take extra staff with you to meetings? Why? If
it is for teaching purposes it makes sense. Or, is it just
wasting someone's time?
• Do you spend time on leadership work? Performance?
Outcomes?
• Show people you value them. You are worth my time.
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Assignments
• Give assignments that will get staff to develop new behaviors
about performance. Get them thinking about performance.
• Volunteer for assignments that will build new skills.
• Ask for expectation, directions and required outcomes.
• Set expectations, give direction and require outcomes.
• Publicly reward contributions.
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Decisions
• How do you make decisions – Which do you make that
your staff should make? Ask them.
• Link decisions to performance.
• Help staff, teach staff to make better decisions. Spend time
coaching. Teach others how you make decisions.
• Spend an hour per week with direct reports. Make this
valuable time and show them it is important by not
allowing interruptions. Ask for some time with your
supervisor.
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Leadership Competencies
Those discrete skills & abilities that enable you to use the
tools effectively.
In order to build capacity throughout the agency we need
to assess what behaviors and competencies we need to
develop at the individual, team and organizational level.
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• Communicating Vision
and Direction
• Promoting Ethics
• Leading by Example
• Continuous Learning
• Strategic Thinking
• Decision Making
• Systems Thinking
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• Championing
Innovation
• Organizational
Astuteness
• Interpersonal
Communications
• Developing Leadership
• Team Leadership
• Supporting the
Community
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Exercise
• How many of these competencies do you
(individual) have?
• How many does my team (office, group) have?
• How many does the organization (CATA) have?
• How will you work to get more competencies
for yourself, team and the organization?
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Championing Innovation
“...Most companies are peppered with people who are very
quick to say ‘no.’ Most newly hatched ideas are shot down
before they even have time to grow feathers, let alone
wings. In saying ‘yes’ to all those who brought their ideas to
me, I was simply leveling the imbalance a bit. …One ‘yes’ in a
sea of ‘no’s’ can make the difference.”
Gordon MacKenzie. author of Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool’s Guide to
Surviving with Grace.
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“This is no time when the usual is suitable”.
Hip Hop Artist Mos Def
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Leaders
• Teach
• Act Like the Leader they want to
be lead by
• Have strong values
• Demonstrate those Values in
their Behavior
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Leaders have a Personal Narrative – What’s
Yours?
• Where is the “chaos” in your leadership
world?
• What does that place look like?
• Where do you go from there?
Questions posed at the Open Society Foundation: Leadership and Sustainability
Institute, Miami Fl., December 2013
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Leaders Are Great Communicators
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Communication Exercise
• What is the current communication strategy
for your organization?
• What would the perfect communication
strategy for your organization look like?
• What is the difference?
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A problem well defined is half solved!
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The Gap Analysis
1. Think of a situation that you would like to
change or improve.
2. What is it like now? Be as descriptive as
possible.
3. What would it be like if everything was perfect?
4. The difference between bullets 2 & 3 is the gap.
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Closing the Gap
• What will I do to begin to close the gap? What
does my team need to do?
• What resources do we need?
• Whose help do we need? What do we want
them to do?
• Does this align with other
work/projects/initiatives that are already
underway?
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Tomorrow
What will you do tomorrow, or the next time that you are
at work, or school, to become a better leader and
encourage leaderful work?
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The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling,
but in rising every time we fall.
Madiba
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