Out Of The Comfort Zone

The first in a series on developing emotional intelligence for the purpose of improving leadership effectiveness, we will be focusing on what emotional intelligence (EQ) means, why it matters and how to improve your own EQ. To lead as a non-expert, EQ becomes more of a critical skill than IQ. We will talk how EQ can be used, how to improve your EQ and discuss a case.

Communicating with direct reports is a special case. Typically this involves communicating about performance and development – which means it ultimately involves coaching, delegating and giving feedback. All three are part of this week’s discussion.

The most admired leaders are admired because of their skill in communicating. What do these leaders do and not do that sets them apart? The answer to that question is what the show is all about. We will be talking about how leaders inspire, how they convey authority and what they do when things go wrong.

How a leader communicates makes all the difference in levels of trust, understanding of the strategy, coaching employees, engaging people. The show is focused on what the best communicators do to prepare, to craft the message and ultimately to deliver it. The tactics are the same regardless whether the audience is one person, ten people or thousands. My guest, Joel Wald, has been training and coaching business leaders to be effective communicators for decades. His advice is will put you on the right track.

Tyler Durham has a perspective on what people want to hear from the leaders in terms of communication. That perspective is based on a survey of 6000 people in 12 countries plus his own experience in working with organizations. The watchword is transparency. We will be talking about what goes wrong in communication (“The Niagra Falls Effect’), what the research says people want, and the core skills leaders need to develop to be more effective communicators particularly around change.

As ‘perhaps the world’s premier management thinker’ according to Tom Peters, Henry Mintzberg, this week’s guest, has clear views on leadership and strategy. We begin with his view of the best organizations as communities of people. Leading then is about building the community – not about being the knight in shining armor with a load of followers. In this context, we turn to what it means to be strategic and then how to better develop managers for this understanding of organizations.

As a highly successful leader and a builder of brands, Kevin Gass has a straightforward perspective of what it takes to be strategic - how to set goals, define strategies and specify tactics that will lead to success. Continuing in our series on “Being Strategic,” we will be discussing Kevin’s model, his experiences and why he thinks companies and leaders fail the strategic test.

People frequently receive feedback on needing to be more strategic but have no clue how to develop that capability. This is the second in a series on becoming more strategic. Peter Wright will share his methodology for identifying the drivers of any business. The 'fingerprint' - or the unique characteristics of one business versus the rest - is critical for understanding the strategy, making smart strategic choices and driving effective change. For business leaders as well as those in supporting functions, this method is invaluable to developing strategic capability.

When people receive feedback about the need to be more strategic, they often ask us as coaches what that means. This is the first in a series on becoming more strategic. Liam Fahey will discuss his perspective on how to develop strategic thinking – including a number of techniques for examining the marketplace and the competitive landscape. These techniques are directly connected to generating growth.

Focusing on progressing your career, Kerrie will share her experiences in holding your own at the table, navigating through conflict, managing different personalities, sustaining your brand and building sponsorship. In addition, Kerrie will talk about how she stepped out of her comfort zone to learn totally new areas and add value to the team and leading the team.

Hear the experiences and lessons learned from an entrepreneur and leader in the technology industry. Jim Kinsella, founder of Zettabox, will share his insights on how leadership distinguishes the best from the rest in the technology industry. In his view, leadership is in scarce supply – far more so than programming. In addition, Jim will discuss his three points about how to lead effectively: Measuring so you can observe, leading from the front-line, and liking people. Finally, Jim will share his mistakes and the lessons learned about leading people – including how to work with assertive people.

To succeed on a strategic goal, as a leader you need to know more than the financial metrics – you need to track what people are really doing to contribute to the goal. My guest, Bruce Rigal, has a unique perspective on how to measure the things that make a real difference to the success of the strategy. Measurement is a critical skill in transitioning from an expert leader to a larger role because if you are measuring the right things then you can delegate effectively, give feedback more consistently and insure the right things are getting done even when you are not on top of all the details.

Most of us believe that collaboration is the ideal path forward; however, this is far easier said than done particularly for very complex problems. Typically the parties that need to collaborate do not trust each other, do not agree on the solution and do not want to talk with each other. This week’s guest, Angela Knight, has been very successful in bringing together groups of people who have very different, often competing, interests. IN a very politically astute way, she has a method for getting these groups to agree on policy and a way forward. Tune in to hear how she accomplishes this feat.

This week’s show highlights the career, experience and lessons learned of a leader in the biotech industry. Beginning his career as deep expert in science, Doug Williams transitioned to leading companies and departments. Doug’s experiences in managing the transition, becoming more of a leader than a scientist, building teams and maintaining confidence when he was out of his comfort zone have great insights for all of us. In addition, Doug has a perspective on the role of emotions in motivating people as well as great advice on delegating and managing your time.

Many leaders are talking about coaches – either because they have one or they have been told they should have one. But, when does a coach really help? How should you use a coach? How do you select a coach (or know if the one you are working with is doing the best job for you)?Stephen Marshall, this week's guest, has been on both sides of the divide. He was responsible for hiring coaches when he worked at Siemens and he is now coaching executives.

Tom Wilson, Chief Risk Officer at Allianz, will be my guest this week. Tom is the ultimate expert leader and he has a valuable perspective on the additional skills that expert leaders need to acquire to be most effective. Join us to hear his perspective on the mistakes deep experts make along with his advice on delegating, choosing what to get involved in and what to let go, communication and being commercially savvy.

All organizations, regardless of the size, have conflict – meaning one person or group wants to go in one direction, another person or group wants to go in another direction. Learning to manage conflict in a constructive manner is thus a core skill for leaders. But managing conflict does not mean having the best intellectual argument and “winning” the case. It is much more complex than just being right. Craig Runde, a recognized expert on conflict, will join us to talk about what goes wrong, what to do and how to manage emotions in the midst of conflict.

We will be talking about the things leaders do that stall careers – what goes wrong, the warning signs, how to prevent those mistakes. These are the actions that cause followers to loose confidence in a leader and to resist a leader’s direction. In addition, we will offer real-world, practical advice on developing leadership capability and assessing that capability – both for your self and for others. Paul Minx, former global head of talent and leadership development, and Rob Kaiser, coach, researcher and assessor of top talent, will be this week’s guests.

Elizabeth Kuhnke, my guest this week, specializes in coaching leaders on improving presence, confidence and gravitas through the way they use their physical presence. Elizabeth will be talking about the mistakes a leader can make in using his/her voice as well as body language cues that signal a lack of confidence. More importantly, she will be giving advice about what to do to improve presence, confidence and authenticity. She is the author Body Language for Dummies.

Peter Wright, my guest this week, has been under lots of fire both literally and figuratively. He was in the British army in active duty and he was at BP just after the Texas City oil refinery explosion. This list goes on - one could almost say that challenges follow him. One of the key components, in his view, is for leaders to become more comfortable devolved leadership – meaning the willingness to let ideas come from the most unlikely places in the organization and to not have all the answers yourself. Peter will be describing his experiences under fire, the leaders who inspired others during tough times, what makes people follow in times of crisis other than necessity and how we can better prepare leaders.