The magic and power of keeping it simple

It is a remarkable ability to make the complex simple. Too often ideas and plans don’t work because they are too complicated. People who can describe their ideas with crystal clarity get results.

People who keep their plans simple get things done.

There are lots of stories of how Apple’s Steve Jobs sent ideas back to the drawing board because he wanted them more simple. Not less remarkable or innovative, but more simple. One of the first iPod prototypes had too many buttons and switches so Jobs rejected it and demanded of his engineers that it maintained all of the functionality, but was more simple. You know what we ended up with.

“Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple.”

Steve Jobs (Tweet this)

Here’s a way to keep planning simple.
On one page, in fact.

1. On the top of your page you write what your vision is. What will the future (of the product or project or organisation) look like?
2. Now work out the five most important things that you must get right in order for your vision to become reality. Not 15 or 35, just five (plus or minus two). List these as columns underneath the vision (as if they are supporting it).
3. List the specific goals in each of the five areas. State them using numbers if possible – what gets measured, gets managed.
4. Decide what are the most urgent priorities right now.
5. Design and implement a 90 day project to achieve the most important goal.
6. Repeat.

Free Plan On A Page Template 

Leaders need to make sure the vision is clear and that people are working on the most important things to achieve it. A Plan On A Page is a technique to make it happen. And it’s yours for free.  Click here to download.

You can’t steer a parked car

One of the reasons I love to teach is that I learn so much! In a recent session on leadership a student* was making an excellent point about the need for action to follow vision. “You can’t steer a parked car,” he said. It doesn’t matter where your intended destination is, if you don’t turn the car on, put it in gear and release the parking brake and put your foot down, you have achieved nothing.

I am passionate about helping organisations and individuals to imagine a picture of a bright future – a vision. It is not always easy as the day to day grind and focus in the business often makes it hard for us to work on the business, and see what the future might look like. Once a vision has been imagined, described and agreed on, the next most important thing is taking action to move towards it.

One of the foundation steps in the Licence to Lead Leadership Development Model (click here to see it) is ACTION. We highlight the importance of a planning framework that helps us work on the most important priorities first and the need to be masters of time management to allow high levels of productivity. Then we show you how to do it.

Leaders need to talk. But they also need to walk (or drive the car) towards the achievement of the vision.

*Thanks to Simon Ashley of ATUNE Health Centres for this gem of wisdom.

Imagination – vital for leadership

“Imagination is more important than intelligence.” Albert Einstein.

One of the ways I keep current with leadership matters and thought leaders around the world is to follow the blogs of a number of gurus. One of them is a guy called Mark Miller. A recent blog really appealed to me so I have included some thoughts from it here. It is about the importance of imagination in leadership.

He makes the point that leaders try to get us to a future that doesn’t yet exist. They imagine it first. They also imagine the path that will lead to the future – that’s called strategy.

They get us to imagine the benefits of this future place. Sometimes they get us to imagine the consequences if we don’t go on the journey.

Leadership can be a serious task and we can get caught up in it, but we need to keep our ability to imagine and even develop our imagination.

Einstein also said “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.”

What are you imagining for your organisation’s future?

PS: The image of Einstein is by Derek Russell. Thank you to Derek for allowing me to share his great work.

Change – friend or foe?

There are three constants in life. Death, taxes and change. Heraclitus, the Greek philosopher, said “nothing endures but change”. If we accept that change keeps happening, why then do so many of us avoid it, ignore it and turn our back on it, sort of like how we would treat someone that we really didn’t like?

What would happen if you treated change like an old, welcomed friend? Life would be different for us if we expected change to drop in at any time.  And when it did we would embrace it and work out how to deal with it. This change in attitude might just be life changing for us.

Change is a key concept in leadership. Leading is all about change. Leaders look at what they have in front of them, imagine a vision of a better future, develop a plan for moving towards that future, then act. They make change happen.

The next time change knocks on your front door, are you going to shoo it away, telling it it’s not welcome here, or are you going to embrace it, ask it in and then work out how to deal with it?

Ding, dong – sorry, gotta go, someone’s at the front door.

The number 1 priority if you want to lead – take responsibility for culture

 

The number one priority for a leader is to take ultimate responsibility for the culture of their organisation.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a multi-national, a footy club, a university or a small business. Culture develops over time and it is the cumulative result of what goes on inside the organisation.

A poor culture will be characterised by ineffective communication, tension, poor performance and unhappy people. A strong culture will be typified by collaboration, pride, loyalty and excellence.

These things, good and bad, don’t happen overnight. They are the result of what the leader does and says. Poor culture develops when a leader is either unaware of the bad stuff happening or doesn’t act to stop it. The good stuff that leads to a strong positive culture is the result of the standards that the leader sets and demands.

Either way, whatever happens is the responsibility of the leader. Not fair? Suck it up, the responsibility is what comes with leadership.

Aspiring leaders who know they don’t have all the answers take action to increase their leadership capability.

Cheers

Greg

PS: Even if you are not the leader of your organisation, you can still take responsibility for the culture of your team, group or those people around you.

Leadership is about creating ripples of influence

You are standing on a river bank. The water is still and calm. There is no wind. You take a rock, throw it high in the air and it lands in the middle with a loud plop.

This single action results in a series of ripples radiating out from where the rock entered the water. They continue to travel outwards, changing the surface of the water, influencing the surroundings.

One simple action resulting in significant influence.

Leading is about influence.

Who are you changing by your actions? Your work mates? Your friends? Members of your family?

Who is feeling the ripples of your influence?

If the answer is no one, perhaps it’s time to increase your leadership capability?

Having more fun at work

I was reminded recently of a story that I used to use in my training about a company that placed a great emphasis on having fun in the workplace. It led to high levels of staff engagement, loyal customers and a worldwide reputation.

The story is about a fish shop in Seattle called Pike Place Fish. The shop became more famous when a book and video was made about it and used internationally to encourage us to create environments where people had fun at work. At Pike Place Fish the staff yell out the orders and literally throw your fish across the shop to be wrapped. Customers go there partly for the fish and partly for the experience.

Why is having fun at work so rare? If you consider that many of us spend half our waking hours at work, it strikes me as even more important that we like it and have fun. What can you do to create an environment that is more conducive to people enjoying themselves? The website below will give you some ideas.

You might be wondering what having fun has to do with leadership? I believe it is the responsibility of the leader to create an environment that gets the best out of people, and that is more likely to happen if they are having fun.

PS: Go to www.fishphilosophy.com for more info on Pike Place Fish. The above photo was taken by my client and friend Richard Tonkin from Bulbeck EnviroSolutions when he visited Seattle, especially to experience Pike Place Fish, which I had told him about years before!

How delegating makes you a better leader

I must admit that at one time during my career I was a terrible delegator. One reason was that I thought that the job would not be done as well as I could do it. Arrogant, I know. Another is, I thought by the time I showed someone else how to do it or I explained what I wanted done, I could have done it myself. Sound familiar?

I now believe that delegating is a key to effective leadership and here’s why.

1. It gets stuff off your plate. Every leader I know is time poor. You are currently tied up doing things that others could do for you.  Delegate and use your time for things only you can do.

2. You get to share your wisdom. If you are in a key position you possess valuable information, so through the process of delegating you are passing on your corporate knowledge.

3. It gives others opportunities to grow. People will gladly accept an opportunity to learn something new, particularly if it gives them an opportunity to shine.

4. You will identify future leaders in your organisation. A great way to identify talent in your organisation is to hand out responsibility. Those who step up and exceed your expectations can be on your leadership radar.

5. You can use the time you gain to invest in leadership activities. The time you gain by effectively delegating can be used to think about, and do leading. As we all know, leading well takes time.

Having a fully engaged, busy, productive team enables you, the leader, the time and head space to lead more effectively.

Are you rock or water?

Rock is hard, immovable, heavy to shift.

Water flows, adapts and seeks to level out.

Rock is steadfast, solid and a great foundation.
Water can change radically when under certain physical conditions (eg steam and ice).

This discussion is not about whether rock or water is best. It is about asking what would you be like as a leader if you were all rock or all water? There are times for rock-like leadership and there are times for water-like leadership.

Standing fast on your values, making an ethical decision – rock-like. Being flexible and adaptable when challenged, and realising that you need to bend – water-like.

The ‘all rock’ leaders I know continually butt heads because they are unmoving, even when wrong. The ‘all water’ leaders I know are a pushover because they don’t know what they stand for.

There’s a time for rock and a time for water.

PS: I first heard about the rock and water concept at a high school. It is a program developed by Dutchman, Freerk Ykema that applies a physical/social approach to developing young people. More info is at http://rockandwaterprogram.com

Leaders make better lovers

Leaders love lots.

They love their industry* – that’s where their passion comes from.

They love their organisation – they deeply care that it succeeds and grows.

They love their people – they want to see them grow, develop and be happy.

They love their families – that’s why they strive for and achieve balance between their career and time for their loved ones

They love their communities – they give back and they make sure that their organisations are good corporate citizens.

And finally, they love themselves – they look after their physical and mental health, they challenge themselves to grow and develop and they want to be the best they can be.

Take the leadership love challenge – how many can you tick? Where do you need to love more? What are you going to do about it?

* PS: You may not be in love with your industry, for example you don’t have to be passionate about money to work in the finance industry, but you might at least care about the difference, for instance, that making money available to families makes. It will be harder for your leadership to surface if you really dislike the industry you work in.