Creating Culture

Jack Welch: Winning the Game

Listened to another great podcast this week by EntreLeadership with Jack Welch, former CEO of GE and the vice president of basketball operations for the L.A. Clippers, Kevin Eastman.  They both spoke about creating culture. Here are some of the takeaways:

Jack Welch

• Make sure your employees have purpose. Give them the why of the organization.
• Create a growth atmosphere.
• Concentrate-do not dilute. Do not focus on too many things. Become a master of a few things not good at many.
• Leaders must be transparent.  Don't have an environment of secrecy. This will help when your organization has to face adversity. Transparency leads to truth and trust.
• Truth and trust leadership is a mentality and methodology. Create this atmosphere in your group and as a whole organization.  Trust will get you answers quickly. Trust is a muscle-it will get stronger in time. 

Kevin Eastman

Building an organization is a delicate balance of culture and people.  If you have the right culture and the wrong people, this will kill the organization.  On the other hand,  if you have the right people and the wrong culture this one still has a chance because the right type of people will try and do what they can to keep trying to change the culture.

Culture should be seen, heard, and felt.  One way it can be seen is just by looking at the physical environment.  As you walk around the office space and you see that it is clean then you know that the details matter to that organization.  Also, when you are strolling around pay attention to the sounds you hear.   If you hear please and thank you then you know is a place of respect. If you hear laughter then you know it is a healthy environment.

3 Things Critical to any Organization:
Culture
People
Belief

The 4 C's of the Clipper's Culture:
Character
Class
Committed
Communication

3 Groups of People in Every Organization:
Bought-ins:  have complete buy in of vision
Give-ins: have not bought in but will do their jobs because supposed to
Not-ins:  will never believe in vision

He stresses the importance of spending time on the "give-ins" group.  Leadership must work to get rid of the "not-ins" group. Once you can eliminate the "not-ins" and some of the "give-ins" then the "bought-ins" will thrive along with your culture.

Leaders must understand that people will follow you based on their eyes and ears. People are looking at leaders to see if your actions match your words and that your words match your actions.

To help deal with the fear of failure make sure and not just focus on what the consequences are if you fail but also give the same value to the consequences if you succeed.

"Leadership is a position of power and responsibility. On the way up it is all about you but when you get to be the leader it is all about them."

Innovation

"Life is a series of experiences, each of which makes us bigger, even though it is hard to realize this.  For the world was built to develop character, and we must learn that the setbacks and griefs which we endure help us in our marching onward." Henry Ford

An excerpt taken from https://www.thehenryford.org/exhibits/hf/default.asp:

"Henry Ford did not invent the automobile. He didn’t even invent the assembly line. But more than any other single individual, he was responsible for transforming the automobile from an invention of unknown utility into an innovation that profoundly shaped the 20th century and continues to affect our lives today.

Innovators change things. They take new ideas, sometimes their own, sometimes other people’s, and develop and promote those ideas until they become an accepted part of daily life. Innovation requires self-confidence, a taste for taking risks, leadership ability and a vision of what the future should be. Henry Ford had all these characteristics, but it took him many years to develop all of them fully."

Henry Ford is a great example of an innovator who was not afraid to fail.  His curiosity of how things worked began as a young boy on his parent's farm. Both of his parents encouraged his innovative mindset to tinker with the machines on the farm to make them better. This early encouragement taught him to not be afraid of failure but instead to learn by trial and error. Teach those around you that it is okay to fail. As John Maxwell preaches, "the best teacher is not experience but evaluated experience."

From his failed experiences Ford learned to persevere through setbacks. His first two companies failed before he found success with Ford Motor Company. He learned from each of those failed attempts and had the faith and belief to keep trying.

Ford recognized early that people mattered.  He had an ability to identify and attract outstanding people that believed in his vision.  Another great quality was his ability to learn from others. His idea for the moving assembly line came from the meat-packing industry.  His innovative and outside the box thinking helped stabilize his workforce.  The company was having a problem retaining employees so his solution was to double their wages. Problem solved!

My greatest takeaway from Henry's Ford experience, is that as a leader, do not accept the status quo; this is the way things have always been done.  Be an example for your followers and become a creative thinker and problem solver.  Make it a habit to challenge your own assumptions.

"Don't do things the way they have always been done.  Don't try and fit the system. If you do what is expected of you, you'll never accomplish more than what others expect." Howard Schultz Chairman and CEO Starbucks

Lessons of Leadership

Today I want to share with you some lessons of leadership from four-star General Stanley McChrystal's TED talk in 2011. He shares great insight on building relationships versus demanding people to follow you.  He leads his forces by building consensus and shared purpose versus just giving orders.  Take 15 minutes and listen to his talk.  Here are a few takeaways:

Leaders can let you fail, yet not let you be a failure.

When you start as a leader naturally you want to be demanding, set high standards, and be very black and white.  The instinct is that if you are not on the right side of these things then you have failed your followers BUT remember you are working with people.  People do not care how much you know until they know how much you care.

Focus on building people up not tearing them down.  Try to reach their heart and soul and bring them together to what you are trying to accomplish. Create shared vision.

Lead by informing and engaging staff so they can work together and create buy in and make agents of change.

Leaders are not good because they are right, they are good because they are willing to learn and trust.

Is not easy, is not fair but people you have counted on will help you up when you need it. Remember people counting on you, need you on your feet. 

Emotions determine Destiny

They say the best way to learn is to study the best.  Over the past year I have listened to several of Tony Robbins speeches, interviews, and I am currently reading his most recent book Money: Master the Game.  What he does better than most is really make you dig deep into your personal motivations, drive, and understanding how your emotions lead to action.

He encourages you to explore your needs, beliefs, and emotions that are controlling you.
He helps you reach your full potential and understand what is preventing you from fulfillment and success.  He believes we all have the ability to make a positive impact and it is up to us to overcome our fears to reach that potential.

Spend 20 minutes & find out for yourself by listening to his 2006 TED talk, "Why We Do What We Do."



Here are a few of my takeaways from his TED talk.

Start with your Why.
Why power connects your dreams and values. Your Why has to be motivating. It's not will power that matters it's why power. Your why is the fuel of your passion.

Discover your Inner Drive.
What is your motivation for action?

What excites and inspires you?

What is your emotional force of life?
Internal drive is what activates you. Emotions is what leads you to action.

Understand that DECISION IS THE ULTIMATE POWER.

Change your mindset. Most people blame failure on a lack of resources. Instead learn to become RESOURCEFUL. YOU have the power of decision to change.  Decisions are what shape your destiny.  Decide what you are going to focus on and give meaning to that focus.  That meaning is what is going to produce emotion which will lead to your actions!

My next post I will talk in great detail about his Power of Strategy, Story and State. If you are looking for a breakthrough then don't miss it!

10 Commandments of Good Human Relations

A great reminder for us all on how to treat others.

1. Speak to people. There is nothing as nice as a cheerful word or greeting.

2. Smile at people. It takes 72 muscles to frown, only 14 to smile.

3. Call people by name. The sweetest music to anyone's ears is the sound of their own name.

4. Be friendly and helpful. If you would have friends, be friendly.

5. Be cordial. Speak and act as if everything you do is a genuine pleasure.

6. Be genuinely interested in all people. You can like almost everybody...if you try.

7. Be generous with praise and cautious with criticism.

8. Be considerate with the feelings of others.  It will be appreciated.

9. Be thoughtful of the opinions of others.  There are usually three sides to a controversy: yours, the other persons and the right one.

10. Be alert to give service. What counts most in life is what we do for others.

Add to this a great sense of humor, a big dose of patience, and dash of humility and you will be rewarded many-fold.

-Robert G. Lee

WHERE is your leadership?

So far we have covered WHO, WHAT, WHEN, and today we look at the WHERE questions of your leadership philosophy. 

The WHO questions should of helped you define the type of person you are and WHO you want to lead and learn from.

The WHAT segment hopefully helped you define your role, your followers needs, and WHAT you believe about leadership.

Your WHEN answers should have helped you define times WHEN you are a good leader and times WHEN you need to be more effective.

Now it is time to reflect on WHERE you want to be a leader and WHERE  you need to grow as a leader. I have included a few of my personal answers to the questions.  I hope you are enjoying the process of developing your leadership philosophy. 

Here are the 4 WHERE questions:
 

     1.     Where are you a leader?

a.     Work

b.     Family

 

     2.     Where do you want to be as a leader?

a.     Be more polished and confident as a public speaker

b.     Head Coach

c.      Confident-Sure-Bold-Effective manager of people

     3.     Where do I need to grow in order to be where I want to be?

a.     Professional Network-network up

b.     Experience as Head Coach and decision maker

c.      Keep growing as a leader/teacher/mentor/coach

d.     Personal growth

     4.     Where do I want to take my group?

a.     PGs: vocal, confident, lead by example, close knit, trusting, maximize potential as players, leaders and people

 

The 3 WHENs of Leadership

Part of being a good leader is knowing what your strengths and weaknesses are and surrounding yourself with people who compliment those areas.  So far we have discussed the WHO and WHAT of developing your leadership philosophy, today, we are going to address the WHEN. 

Understanding WHEN you are at your best and WHEN you are not can help you recognize the areas you need to improve in as a leader and in what areas you excel. Also, understanding your WHEN helps you know what situations you may not be the most effective leader you can be.  You may also learn that you thrive during crisis situations!  Take some time and really be honest with yourself about when you are an effective leader and when you are not.  I have included a few of my personal answers to the questions down below. 

 

     1.     When do you need to lead?

a.     Teaching new concept.

b.   Group lacks direction.

c.   Feel uncertain or unsure on next steps. Help organize and create action plan.

d.   Group lacks confidence and needs a boost.

e.      Finding a solution to a problem.

 

     2.     When are you most effective at leading?

a.     When overprepared and clear plan.

b.     Comfortable with material.

c.      When things need positive vibe.

d.     When things get hard or tough.

     3.     When are you least effective when leading?

a.      Not confident in what teaching or feel unprepared.

b.     Teaching people who don’t care or listen.

c.     When angry.

d.      When task I don’t want to do or indifferent about.

 

The 5 WHAT questions

Hopefully you have spent some time thinking about the WHO questions of your leadership philosophy.  Remember the key to building anything great and sustainable is to have a solid foundation.  With that in mind let's discover more about the 5 WHAT questions needed to develop your leadership philosophy.   Take some quiet time to reflect and enjoy the process!  I have included a few of my own personal WHAT answers. 

     1.     What is your role?

a.     Make my boss' job easier and support decisions.

b.     Mentor younger coaches/peers/former players.

c.      Encourage, support and maximize potential of players mentally, physically & emotionally.

     2.     What do your followers need?

a.     Players: time, love, energy, direction, discipline, basketball skill set, life skills, emotional support

b.     Coaches: professional & personal growth, how to be a professional, direction, goals, mentors

     3.     What are your strengths?

a.     Continual Learner

b.     Consistent

c.      Calm, collected, fun

d.     Trust, loyal, respectful, professional

     4.     What are your weaknesses?

a.     Communication:can be too short on words  

b.     Controlled emotions: lack of immediate reaction can be seen as aloof

c.      Network Up better 

     5.     What do you believe to be true about Leadership?

a.     Leadership is about People

b.     Leadership is about relationships. People have to know you care, are competent and trustworthy.

c.     Groups want discipline and consistent accountability principles.

d.     Hard conversations usually lead to growth.

e.     There are different types of leadership styles:  by example, energy, vocal, & by position-title.

f.       For effective leadership everyone involved in the group has to be willing to receive info & communicate out.

g.     All groups have a leader.

h.     Everyone needs a coach and a cheerleader.

i.       Time and tone are important.

j.       Catch people doing things right.

k.     Praise publicly and criticize privately.

WHO are you?

The purpose of the next few blogs is to help you develop your leadership philosophy.  We will be breaking down the WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHY, and HOW of leadership into smaller pieces to jump start your thinking.

Today we are going to reflect on the WHO questions.  Again, I strongly encourage you take some time and write down your answers. This should be an ongoing process as you develop your leadership philosophy.

Who are you? 
Who are you as a person? As a coach?  What principles guide you in your daily life? Motivations?

Here a couple of things from my personal list to give you an idea:
People first. Relationships are important to me. Make and find time for others.

Golden Rule: treat and talk to others as you would like to be treated.

Character: hard worker, loyal, trustworthy, giver, take initiative, resourceful, problem solver, prepared, fun, love to learn & grow, confident with humility

Skill: Teacher, leader, mentor, listening, compassion, empathy, demanding, personal and professional development

Who do you lead?
You can lead in many different areas.  Consider your roles at home, in the community, within your family and at work.

Who do you follow?
Thought leaders
Boss
Family
Mentors
Spiritual

Would love to hear any questions or please feel free to share any comments as you go about developing your leadership philosophy.  Hope you find the process helpful.

Chris Widener's Leadership Philosophy

 

 

Do you know who you are as a leader? What do your followers need from you as a leader? When are you most effective when leading?  Where do you want to be as a leader? Why should people follow you?  How does your group need to be lead?

 

Over the next two weeks I will be posting blogs that will break down the WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY and HOW of leadership into smaller pieces.  My hope is that you will take the time between posts to explore your own answers to these questions.  The purpose is to help you create a strong foundation of your leadership philosophy and principals. 

 

The program I will be sharing with you is from Chris Widener's Extraordinary Leader's 13 CD set. 

His program has really helped me define who I am as a leader and where I want to be as a leader.  I think before we begin the process we have to first understand what his philosophy of Leadership is.

 

 

Chris Widener’s Philosophy on Leadership   
Every group has a leader-a primary influencer(s).    
If you have 2 leaders then you will have 2 groups.

 

     Every group needs a “good” leader.

Can have a position/title leader but that does not make them a good leader.

Any person that has influence is a leader.

If there are not good leaders in your group then you need to make them good leaders.

     Effective leadership is character and skill.

     Leadership is long term.

     People choose to follow based on character and skills.

          Nice guys= good character & little to no skills

          Charlatan= poor character & good skills

          Short term leadership=poor character & excellent skills

 

      Leadership is based on relationships.

      Followers must have attachment to your character or your skills.

 

      Leadership is an opportunity; a given chance to make the world better for others,
      to lift others up, & to grow others

      Leadership is a responsibility: to make things better.

      Leadership is a privilege: attitude to gratitude.

      Leadership is for other people.

      Leadership must be BOLD!

      Dare to dream. Take risks. Bold decisions= bold actions.

     You want to cause action with greater commitment.
     Attempt to do great things.

      For Leadership to be effective long term it needs to be methodical, consistent, & purposeful.
Leadership must keep the group focused on the vision.
The natural tendency of a group is to move away from mission/vision/purpose.
Must be constant reminders of the vision.

 

Leadership by Jim Rohn

I just received my complete set of Jim Rohn's Guides and I am really looking forward to diving in to some new material.

Starting next week I am going to start a series on how to develop your Leadership Philosophy based on the teaching of Chris Widener a disciple of Jim Rohn.

I have found http://www.success.com to be a great resource to purchase materials and to find articles, links, checklists, videos and blogs.  I also appreciate that the site runs a lot of regular sales and discounts on material. I will make sure and promote the next sale on my twitter @coachkarenblair if you are interested in stocking up on some new personal and professional growth materials. Also, if you are interested in the Jim Rohn set you can find it at The Success Store.

Here are just a few sample quotes from the Guides:

A life best lived is a life by design. Not by accident, and not by just walking through the day careening from wall to wall and managing to survive. That's okay.  But if you can start giving your life dimension and design and color and objectives and purpose, the results can be staggering.

From The Jim Rohn Guide to Goal Setting

Be strong but not rude.
Be kind but not weak.
Be bold but not a bully.
Be humble but not timid.
Be thoughtful but not lazy.
Be proud but not arrogant.
Have humor without folly.

From The Jim Rohn Guide to Leadership

If you have read the series and have a favorite please leave me a comment and I will make sure and start with that one!

Team Culture

 

I have been spending time this week reviewing my notes from the WBCA/NACWAA Whiteboard session we hosted at the Unviersity of North Texas and I wanted to share some great points and ideas that LeTourneau University Head Coach Leslie Reinecker shared with the group about culture.


Culture is a pattern of shared assumptions invented, discovered, or developed by a group as it learns to cope with its problems by external adaption and internal integration.

Cultures form out of common ideas/beliefs.

Developing culture is intentional and continuous.

Championship Cultures have great respect among team members and they take pride in fulfilling team roles.

Help players develop their Why. Coaches do not be afraid to share your story and Why.
Young players usually have not greatly developed their why/story yet. Help them shape theirs.

Inspire players to work.  This will help determine long term success.

Leaders must live/participate in the core values consistently.

Constructive feedback is the only kind that helps the team. All other types just tear down the culture.

Players are always more sensitive to criticism than to compliments.  You give them 10 compliments but they always remember the 1 criticism.  Be aware because your less mature players will turn that into a reason "why you don't like them." Don't let this become a trust killer.

Team Culture is about building relationship and trust.

Know that incoming players are products of previous cultures. Change takes time and consistently.

Players are always watching you.

YOU MUST WIN THE LOCKER ROOM BEFORE YOU CAN CONSISTENTLY WIN ON THE COURT.

You will see your team's true culture when things go badly.

There is no magic time frame when creating a successful team culture but generally it takes a minimum of 3 years.

Leaders it is your responsibility to shape and model the program you want.  You get what you tolerate.

"The maintenance of a culture is ongoing process that require regular effort. The effort is worthwhile, though, particularly when you take into account just how much culture dictates behavior, focus, ethic, and results. Culture is a powerful component of every organization, and to a certain extent it take on a life of its own." Joe Frontiera and Daniel Leidl in Team Turnarounds

Most coaches want to focus on changing something physical rather than mental because it is easier. Working the mental side is more work, but gives better results.

You have to have a strategy but it is the culture that determines whether or not that strategy will be successful.

Time spent on X's and O's is very important but wins or losses are based on aspects of the team's culture.  The team's attention to detail, effort, players' ability to execute together. During times of high pressure players will fall back on their habits.  

Burn Your Goals Part 3

http://www.traintobeclutch.com/burn-your-goals-to-become-the-person-of-your-dreams/

I wanted to give a big thank you to Sallie Guillory, Associate Head Coach at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, for allowing me to share her notes from Burn Your Goals by Joshua Medcalf and Jamie Gilbert. If you are not receiving Sallie's Coaching newsletter you are missing out.  She does a great job with her content.  When I started this blog I was hoping to create a space where coaches could share ideas so thank you Sallie for sharing this week.   

Burn Your Goals Part 2

http://www.traintobeclutch.com/burn-your-goals-to-become-the-person-of-your-dreams/

I wanted to give a big shoutout to Sallie Guillory, Associate Head Coach at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, for putting together another great Coaching Newsletter this week and sharing her notes from Burn Your Goals by Joshua Medcalf and Jamie Gilbert. 

This is part 2 of Sallie's notes.  Enjoy and please not only read the notes but take the time to reflect.  A lot of great quotes and material here.

Burn Your Goals Part 1

http://www.traintobeclutch.com/burn-your-goals-to-become-the-person-of-your-dreams/

I wanted to give a big shoutout to Sallie Guillory, Associate Head Coach at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, for putting together another great Coaching Newsletter this week and sharing her notes from Burn Your Goals by Joshua Medcalf and Jamie Gilbert.  I will be sharing her notes for the next few days.  From looking at the notes this is a must read for coaches.  Enjoy and please not only read the notes but take the time to reflect and answer some of the questions.  What are you doing with your time?  Is there something you can do more of or less of?  Is there a specific controllable commitment you can start this week?  Ideas are just ideas until you put them into action.

Servant Leadership

Podcast Episode 78 - Why Leaders Eat Last with Simon Sinek

Had the opportunity to listen to a great podcast.  You can check it out at the link above.  Here are a couple of takeaways.  

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more.  You are a leader.  John Quincy Adams

In physics the definition of power is the transfer of energy.  Leaders and organizations should operate in this same way.

When marines run a marathon in full gear and they feel like they want to quit they don't say "I can't."  Instead, they scream out to others, "Motivate me."  What a great mindset!

Colin Powell on Leadership

"Purpose is the destination of a vision."

"Good leaders set vision, missions, and goals.  Great leaders inspire every follower at every level to internalize their purpose, and to understand that their purpose goes far beyond the mere details of their job.  When everyone is united in purpose, a positive purpose that serves not only the organization but also, hopefully, the world beyond it, you have a winning team."

From "It Worked for Me" by Colin Powell