Celebrate Your Gift

Celebrate Your Gift

by Elisa SpainNo Comments

At this gift-giving time of the year, I am reminded that we all have natural gifts.

The notion that we can constantly make ourselves better, in theory, is a great idea. But when does it become too much?

For me, the best way to answer this question is to notice our strengths and work to enhance them. In my Vistage work, and as a leadership coach and advisor, I refer to this as discovering and working in our genius.

While personal growth and development are part of living a full life, and after all this is what Vistage is all about, I wonder sometimes if we have become so focused on achieving that we are never able to appreciate who we are or what we have already accomplished.

For me, the best way to avoid the “better, better, better” trap is to ask the following questions:

  • What am I already good at? What do I need to do to become excellent at this?
  • Of the things I am not good at and am striving to improve, what can I delegate to someone else?
  • Can I find a way to accept being adequate or “good enough” at the rest?

Once we know and understand our strengths, and focus on that, we not only become more effective, we become more satisfied, and ultimately become better leaders.

P.S. This is the last post for 2012. Happy holidays to all.  See you in the new year.
Do Titles Matter?

Do Titles Matter?

by Elisa SpainNo Comments

Last week I had the chance to listen to Vistage speaker and futurist David Houle. David talked about coming changes, many of which are driven not only by technology, but by Millennials entering the workforce. We are already seeing flattening organizations and a move away from hierarchy and titles and offices and cubicles and all the stuff Baby Boomers and Generation Xers are comfortable with. In entrepreneurial companies, which make up the majority of our Vistage groups, hierarchies never existed. These companies pride themselves on being nimble and quick to respond to marketplace demands. The result is a competitive advantage, now more than ever, because these are the companies able to attract and retain Millennials. As Vistage companies grow, we Chairs encourage owners to build a leadership team so they can build a sustainable enterprise. Owners want experienced leaders to do this – In walks the boomers and Xers, accustomed to structure and ready to create that sustainable enterprise, and with their ability to create processes to support a sustainable enterprise, comes their comfort and desire for hierarchy, titles, offices, etc.

CLASH  

Perhaps as David says, as the Millennials become leaders, this will all even out. In the meantime, here are my questions for Boomer and Generation X leaders and followers:

  • Is it time to pause and ask, how much of what I expect in terms of hierarchy, paying dues, etc. matters?
  • What recognition is truly important for me to feel successful in my organization?
  • When joining a new organization or taking on an assignment, what behaviors, rather than titles and trappings, should I be asking for from my leader that will set me up to succeed?

Elisa K. Spain

The Answer Is In The Question…

The Answer Is In The Question…

by Elisa SpainNo Comments

One of the life lessons I have learned, since becoming a Vistage Chair six years ago, is the answer is in the question. By asking better questions, we enable others to come to their own resolutions. Most of us in business are problem solvers, and often the answer to someone else’s problem or challenge seems obvious to us. Therefore, we rush in with advice, without stopping and asking questions. What I have learned, and continue to be reminded of daily, is that by asking more poignant questions, the resulting answer may not only be better, it may also be different than what we perceived as obvious before we asked.

Following is a quote from one of my CEO members that, to me, captures the essence:

“I had a very interesting life lesson yesterday. Another member was leading and that was probably a little difficult for me to have someone else in charge. Once I accepted my role and decided to listen instead of work hard to offer my opinion, my perception of how I could add value changed drastically. I remember that Elisa said, ‘work to ask questions and not just offer suggestions’. I struggle with that as I always want to solve other people’s problems for them. It’s like counseling, the counselor never seems to tell you your problem, they just keep asking questions until you have the realization and state it yourself. That always bugged me. I now realize that until someone deeply understands their own problem, they will not take action nor will they truly support any action that they do take based on another’s understanding.  I think I got more value out of the meeting than any other person in the room. That value was directly linked to not talking”.

 

The Elephant In The Room

The Elephant In The Room

by Elisa Spain2 Comments

The other day, I was asking for feedback from a team I was working with about the value of the program. One of the members came up to me afterwards and said, “please don’t take this personally” and gave me some additional feedback. My response was,” the elephant is in the room whether we talk about him or not. For me, I would prefer to know what you are thinking and feeling so that I can modify the program to give you results that meet your needs.”

Yes, the elephant is in the room whether we talk about him or not.  There he is, clomping around, banging into things.

And yet, we often refuse to talk about him. Why is that? Here are the reasons I hear:

  • I don’t want confrontation
  • I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings
  • We can’t do anything about it anyway
My experience is that our reluctance to confront causes the elephant to cause more damage than if we just talked about him and got him out of the room.
It is our role as leaders to invite and initiate the conversation. With the elephant out of the room, we can get on to business. As long as he is there, we are focused internally instead of externally.
What has been your experience?

 Elisa K. Spain 

When Managing By The Numbers Is Not Enough

When Managing By The Numbers Is Not Enough

by Elisa SpainNo Comments

It’s all about profitability right? Certainly, we are all in business to make money. Even not-for-profits must have net income to continue to operate. And, is being in business for a purpose or a mission reserved only for not-for-profits? What about the professional managers running privately held businesses and leading large companies? What drives them?

Recently I had two conversations in one day with business owners expressing frustration with the lack of progress of talented leaders in their businesses. They both have open book policies, their key executives and in one case, all of their employees, have full access to the company’s financial statements. All this makes sense from the point of view of managing by the numbers. And, is managing by the numbers enough?

The questions I asked these two owners are:

  • In addition to company profitability and individual compensation, what drives these individuals to succeed?
  • Whose goals are they working toward, yours or theirs?
  • If the answer is yours, how can you make the goals their goals while still being consistent with yours?
  • “Purpose” is individual, have you explored what theirs is? Revisiting the book Drive by Dan Pink is a good place to start and then a conversation.

What questions would you add to this discussion?

Elisa K. Spain

Leadership Quote: Those Who Win….

Leadership Quote: Those Who Win….

by Elisa Spain4 Comments

This month’s leadership quote: Sooner or later, those who win are those who think they can. — Dr. Paul Tournier

Today’s blogpost  is offered by guest blogger Mary Lore, Vistage speaker and author of Managing Thought.

Mary’s book and program are all about managing thought and getting the results we want.

In my experience, a lot of leaders think “positive thinking” is about thinking happy rah-rah or touchy-feely thoughts or re-framing a thought to make it sound positive, for example changing the word “sh—“ to “fertilizer.” Or they think of that Stuart Smalley character on Saturday Night Live who made positive affirmations in the mirror. (I don’t want to be that guy!)

That’s why I don’t use the term positive thinking,coined the term powerful thinking, and developed theManaging Thought® process. Because to me, positivity isn’t about getting rid of the negative thoughts we have and replacing them with positive thoughts. It is about being aware of the 60,000 thoughts our brains present to us every day – one a second – and choosing to hold thoughts that are in alignment with who we aspire to be and what we truly wish to create – as leaders and as organizations.

In my experience, most of our thoughts are based in fear, focused on what we don’t want vs. what we do want – and we don’t even know it.

When we think about the time we don’t have enough of, the opportunities we don’t have, the customer we lost, the payments we can’t afford, the sacrifices and cuts we have to make, cash we don’t have, customers who aren’t buying, banks who won’t lend, the decisions we are forced to make, and the competition we’re up against, we are not thinking powerfully.

When we think that we don’t want to be viewed as a commodity, the economy is bad, my organization isn’t innovative, my people aren’t engaged, or that I don’t like this or that about my employees or suppliers, again, we are not thinking powerfully.

When we think thoughts of fear, self-doubt, worry, criticism, judgment, anger, frustration, anxiety, negativity and other disempowering fight, flight or freeze thoughts, we are not thinking powerfully. And when we think about surviving, we are not thinking powerfully, because we want to thrive.

When we think powerfully, we are thinking thoughts of vision and purpose, wonder and possibility, focused on what we want, on what truly matters. Our thoughts are inspired, creative, and impactful.

Most of us have not thought about our thoughts. We have no idea what we are thinking in each moment.  We have taught ourselves to turn our power to think and to create our reality over to our brains.

Yet we have the ability to pay attention to our thoughts. We always have a choice to focus on what matters and think in powerful ways which affects our ideas, our decisions, and our results. This awareness creates stillness in this fast-paced, ever-changing world and affects how we inspire others, how we lead, what we create from any situation, producing a distinct competitive advantage.

It is time for us to take back our power, to stop re-acting, and start choosing thoughts that serve us in our lives, our relationships, our organizations, our communities, and, through the ripple effect, the world.

How are you using your 60,000 thoughts today?

 

Great Leaders Shatter Expectations

Great Leaders Shatter Expectations

by Elisa Spain2 Comments

Great leaders shatter expectations, so says Vistage speaker Michael Allosso. This is planning season for most companies. The time when leaders get together to begin strategic planning for 2013.

What will you do in 2013 to shatter the expectations of your leadership team and your customers?

Please share your thoughts/plans by commenting on this blog post.

Elisa K. Spain

Rush To The Urgent, Or Plan For 2013?

Rush To The Urgent, Or Plan For 2013?

by Elisa SpainNo Comments

As we enter the fourth quarter of the year, are you still focused on 2012 or planning for 2013?

At a recent meeting with a group of business leaders, all from the same company, we went around the table and asked “who is on plan or ahead of plan this year and who is not?” A common theme emerged amongst those who answered that they were meeting their plan or ahead of plan.

Here is what I heard:

  • 2012 is over – we are already planning for 2013. We did the same last year and hit the ground running in January (actually before then)
  • everyone on the team knows their contribution to the goal and where each of them stand – i.e. we set individual goals as well as team goals, measure performance and make it public

Seems so simple and yet, only about 1/3 of the people at the table were actually achieving their goals.

Here are some questions for your consideration:

  • I wonder what stops the two-thirds  from following the practices of the one-third? Is it perhaps rushing to the urgent and missing the important along the way?
  • How does this all fit with what you are doing this quarter?
  • How might the experience of these successful leaders perhaps impact the choices you make in the remaining few months of the year?

Elisa K. Spain

Getting It Done Or It's All About Execution.

Getting It Done Or It's All About Execution.

by Elisa SpainNo Comments

One of my Vistage members asked me this question this week, “What is the common theme among the businesses you know that have grown significantly?”

Or to ask the question another way, why is it that less than 1.5% of  U.S. companies are greater than $25mm in revenue and less than .27% are greater than $100mm*. And, why is it that Vistage members outperform their counterparts in their same industries?

The answer quite simply is the combination of a scalable business model and ruthless execution.

Peter Drucker says businesses have more than enough leaders; what they really need are “competent managers who can do the hard work of decision making, planning, and coaching”.

The leaders of companies I know that have scaled understand this.  These are the companies that develop plans and execute on those plans. They follow the DIME method – continuously Design, Implement, Monitor and Evaluate.  For more on the Dime Method, see 7/22/12 blog – Is Your Leadership Team Your Co-Advisor.

Elisa K .Spain

*Source Keith McFarland, Breakthrough Companies

Leadership Habit: What If I Can't Today?

Leadership Habit: What If I Can't Today?

by Elisa Spain2 Comments

We as leaders are told all the time that everyone is always watching us. A smile, a frown, silence, all are interpreted as “a sign”. And since most of us think in terms of impact on ourselves, our followers interpret these “signs” as a sign of something that impacts them. This of course frequently results in “absent information, people make stuff up”.

As leaders, we hear this and interpret it to mean, we need to be “on” all the time. Yikes, especially the introvert leaders say, that is exhausting!!

What if instead, when we are feeling pressured, angry, sad, depleted, we let our folks know that we are working on whatever problem has put us temporarily out of commission, “I had a tough conversation this morning and I am distracted by that, I will look for you later this afternoon so we can talk about your issue”.

For me, time and time again I have seen this sort of human response draw people toward their leaders…

What has been your experience?

Elisa K. Spain