Uncommon

Almost every leader I’ve met wants to grow in their ability to influence and impact others — essentially to drive change. (Incidentally, so much of leadership is really about helping people change: for example: to a new way of doing things, to a new way of thinking, to a new standard of excellence)

In this post, I’ll share the last of 3 frameworks that can enable you to grow as a leader that is able to create positive change.

1. Up and to the Right (see previous post here)
2. Start Inside the Tent (see previous post here)
3. The Hierarchy of Proactivity

The Misconception of “Proactivity”

The word “proactivity” is one of those over-used, and therefore broadly interpreted words, like “innovation” and “strategy” and so many other once-new buzzwords. Yet, in countless situations, learning to get ahead of the curve, foresee the future need of a client, customer, boss or multi-functional business partner is often expected, and always needed to create sustainable change.

Proactivity: Initiating change to address anticipated needs.

Proactivity happens when we anticipate a need that stakeholders likely don’t see, and we initiate change to address it. When we address needs even before they are fully felt, we can create sustainable positive change, often ahead of the market, and create the conditions for growth beyond today’s ceiling. Proactivity is a good thing!

But, there is a common misunderstanding of what’s needed in order to deliver against needs proactively.

Maslow’s hierarchy teaches that certain foundational needs must be met before we can realize higher order needs. Similarly, there is a hierarchy of proactivity. We must address the foundation, and then work our way up.

The Hierarchy of Proactivity:

The Zero Level of Proactivity is: Doing what is expected of you.

This simple requirement often gets skipped over. It’s not sexy. It feels inconsequential. But, it forms a foundation of trust that can’t be underestimated. As agents for change, we are expected to model good grammar and spelling; follow through on commitments (including showing up on time and being prepared for meetings); and responding to emails or other messages in a timely manner, among other things. When a leader fails to deliver on these basic expectations, trust is eroded. Importantly, the need to deliver on the Zero Level of Proactivity doesn’t go away as you grow in the scope of your work or the impact you can have. In fact, it becomes more important, as it must be an even stronger foundation for that growth.

Are you delivering, consistently, on what’s expected of you? Is your team delivering on what’s expected of them? Can others count on you to do “the basics”?

The First Level of Proactivity: Delivering on known, articulated needs.

Next, in order to earn the opportunity to create positive change, we must address needs that others have articulated to us. These may come in the form of a formal request or brief, or they may become apparent in conversation and interaction with our stakeholders. Many of us are anxious to “add value” beyond the stated goal or need, and we gloss over this critical element. As we build trust with others in areas where we want to create positive change, delivering on articulated needs creates a connection and a trust that you as a leader understand, care about and want to address known needs. When we are doing this well, we win repeat business with clients or customers. We earn the respect and trust of those we are working with. We earn the opportunity to lead change because we’ve proven that we are capable of understanding and providing solutions to known challenges and needs.

Are you delivering what you’ve been asked to deliver in a request or brief? Do others repeatedly articulate what they need to you? 

The Second Level of Proactivity: Delivering on anticipated needs.

Once we’ve delivered on basic expectations, and addressed known needs, we’ve earned the opportunity to deliver against things that stakeholders don’t yet realize they need. This is where real change leadership can happen. We are anticipating future needs, engaging stakeholders to see the need, and then addressing it.

Too often, this is our starting point.

And then we get frustrated that whatever we’re trying to do doesn’t seem to work.

Perhaps we can see a market shift coming, and we want to be ahead of it and protect our client or customer from losing share in the market. Or we can see a new set of skills emerging that will be needed for folks to be successful, and we want to ensure they are building those skills well ahead of the need.

One of my favorite books on leadership is “The Leadership Challenge” by Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner. I love this line in the book:

“Leadership is the art of mobilizing others to want to struggle for shared aspirations.”

Pioneering leaders see a market need ahead of others. Uncommon leaders not only see the need, but then take the time to build the foundational trust needed to move others to struggle for a new aspiration. [Importantly, the uncommon leader casts a vision for this aspiration in a way that engages others so that it becomes the shared aspiration that Kouzes & Posner refer to. More on the topics of vision and engagement in a future post.] 

Creating change always requires struggle. It requires stakeholders to forge through established habits, practices, thinking patterns, and beliefs with us in order to start and then sustain new habits, mindsets or skills.

Are you trying to create change and feeling frustrated with the results? Use the Hierarchy of Proactivity to assess whether you need to prioritize building trust by delivering on the basics and addressing known needs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Almost every leader I’ve met wants to grow in their ability to influence and impact others — essentially to drive change. (Incidentally, so much of leadership is really about helping people change: for example: to a new way of doing things, to a new way of thinking, to a new standard of excellence)

In this post, I’ll share the second of 3 frameworks that can enable you to grow as a leader that is able to create positive change.

1. 1. Up and to the Right (see previous post here)
   2. Start Inside the Tent
   3. The Hierarchy of Proactivity

 

 

Start Inside the Tent

One of my favorite bosses always encouraged my propensity to take on big initiatives to drive organizational change. He was not only a champion, but seemed to have an endless supply of helpful analogs to teach important leadership lessons. One day, in his sometimes-dry British accent he said “Ann, if you want to get people to change, you’ve got to stand inside the tent and piss out. Don’t stand outside the tent and piss in!”

After a good chuckle, I began to reflect on this important lesson.

I thought about times when I, or someone I was working with, was not successful in creating sustainable change. In almost every case, I saw evidence of condescending, almost judgmental thinking, language and attitude.

• Senior leaders who were fairly removed from the day to day work asking for change to a process or approach
• High priced consultants suggesting overhauls of organizational design without a working knowledge of an organization’s current or desired culture
• Educators teaching rote, outdated material designed for the previous generation of students

Case after case in my own educational and career history, even in situations where my husband and I were trying to create change within our family, that this “Let me tell you how it should be” approach just didn’t create change that lasted beyond the scope of diligent oversight.

In cases of successful, sustainable change — change that lasted beyond the leader’s oversight, I realized that I could hardly distinguish the person trying to create the change from the team they were changing. When it worked, the change agent had ingrained themselves into the team. They created change from the inside out. They went “inside the tent” of the folks they were trying to influence and impact.

And I began to more deliberately practice this principle.

When we want to create change that lasts:

• A new process or approach that saves time or money, or is more effective or healthy, but requires the organization to break out of a habit
• A new attitude or mindset that replaces fixed thinking (this seems to especially be true when trying to change negative attitudes or mindsets into positive ones)
• Healthy habits that fully replace unhealthy ones

We have to get “in the tent.” Some of the most successful exercise programs are led by trainers who work out right alongside their students. 

It’s a tricky balance. We’re not talking about “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!”, we’re talking about being “in it,” but not “of it.” It’s almost a bit of undercover work. And there are some principles to follow to successfully implement this.

1. Know your starting point. Ever typed an address into Google maps and tried to figure out how to get there, without specifying your starting point? Even if you’re an expert map reader, you are always considering your starting point in order to determine the route you need to take. Take the time to assess where your organization is before you start trying to move it in a new direction. What is the culture like? How engaged is the team? How much experience do individual team members have with the current approach or process you are changing?
2. Build trust. Usually the biggest antidote to change is fear. Trust dismantles fear. When the organization trusts you, they will move in new directions that suddenly don’t feel as risky as they would have with someone they trust less. Trust happens when we join them “in the tent” with the team. I love this BRAVING acronym that highlights the key elements of trust from Brene Brown. Which elements of trust are missing or less well developed in your organization — between team members and between you as the leader and each of your team members?
3. Equip the team. The second thing that dismantles fear is equipping. When we teach new skills, share knowledge and provide resources for our organizations, they are equipped to move into something new. What skills, knowledge and resources do you and the team need to move forward?
4. Walk ahead and clear the road. Change always seems to be met with barriers and obstacles. As you are walking through change with an organization, you’re bound to encounter them. The uncommon leader walks a step ahead and knocks the barriers down to clear the path. What’s getting in the way of your organization? Hierarchy, other priorities, senior leaders who have their own fears or entrenched thinking? Look for them, and work ahead of the team to eliminate the bottlenecks they cause.
5. Celebrate with them. As an organization changes and grows, it’s critical to celebrate the wins and encourage more of the new thinking and new application that you’re seeing. The common leader says “I told you so” as teams realize success, but the uncommon leader encourages and affirms the organization.  What wins can you celebrate with your organization? How can you move the focus off of your leadership and onto your team?

Next time you want to create change, ask yourself if you’re trying to change it from the outside, and consider stepping inside the tent. It’s the uncommon approach, but one that consistently produces growth.

Almost every leader I’ve met wants to grow in their ability to influence and impact others — essentially to drive change. (Incidentally, so much of leadership is really about helping people change: for example: to a new way of doing things, to a new way of thinking, to a new standard of excellence)

In the next few posts, I’ll share 3 frameworks that can enable you to grow as a leader that is able to create positive change.

1. Up and to the Right
2. Start Inside the Tent
3. The Hierarchy of Proactivity

Up and to the Right is the direction we all want to grow. It’s the direction we all want our teams to grow.

For each of us and for our teams, our leadership or our work has a given amount of strategic value, and we each have a scope of responsibility (or sphere of influence).

As we grow, we want to increase the amount of strategic value we deliver, and grow the scope or sphere of our influence. Essentially, we want to move up and to the right.

But, how do we do this? As we ask our teams to be more strategic and have more influence/impact across a broader scope or sphere, how do we enable them? Essentially, we are trying to take on more work across a broader set of stakeholders. Doesn’t this feel like the mantra of most businesses today — do more with the same resources, if not fewer resources? Ouch. This isn’t easy. Something has to give.

The key here is to shift our focus up and to the right as well. We have to move our starting point. This isn’t as easy as it sounds, but let’s break it down.

Step 1: Identify which elements of your work are of less strategic value to your stakeholders, and have a more limited scope/impact.

Step 2: Assess those tasks through a few key questions:

1. Is this task still delivering value to our stakeholders? If the answer is no, simply stop doing it. If the answer is yes, move on to the next question.
2. Could this task be completed by someone else (internally or externally) efficiently and effectively? Think through the actual cost you or your team are incurring (including the cost of your/their salary) to complete the work. It may be much more efficient to outsource this work, or delegate it to others, even if you have to train or equip others in some way. If it can’t be completed by someone else internally or externally, move on to question 3.
3. Could I (my team) complete this task more efficiently than we are today? If yes, implement the plan needed to put a more efficient approach in place. If no, this may be a task you need to retain.

Going through this process should enable you to free up the mental and physical capacity to take on new work and have more strategic impact.

A few important side notes:

• If you’re an entrepreneur, spotting industries or capability areas where companies are trying to shift up and to the right highlights a great business opportunity! Work that others are ready to delegate or do more efficiently has led to the inception of many businesses. Virtual assistants. Automated response systems. Call centers. All of these are businesses that allowed some other company and or set of individuals to move up and to the right. It’s a virtuous cycle!
• Companies that make this northeast shift do so successfully because they clearly understand their stakeholders and their team. They take the time to listen, observe and assess both the needs and talents of those on their team and the articulated, as well as the unarticulated, needs of stakeholders. This depth of understanding allows them to define the new focus for the work, identify the less important work, and fully utilize the talent on their teams.
• Healthy things grow. If you’re not moving up and to the right, you might not be growing in a sustainable way. In other words, you might be growing now, but that growth will at some point stagnate or begin to erode.

So, why the butterfly visual at the beginning of this post?

Did you know, when a caterpillar goes into the cocoon, along the journey to becoming a butterfly, it’s entire body disintegrates before it re-forms into a new creation. How amazing is this! And, so many lessons for us as leaders.

I often think of this amazing work of nature when I’m thinking about leading change. We have to get rid of the old to make room for the new. That’s essentially what we’re doing when we move up and to the right. And in the cycle, we create room for other new life (new businesses that can do the work we’re moving away from, but still need).

It’s a virtuous cycle. As an uncommon leader, boldly moving into new territory means courageously shedding what was, for the goal of what can be.