WARD CLAPHAM

Listening and acting are two ends of the same stick that build trust and rapport.

What makes it so difficult for us to act and not just listen?

The art and skill of listening has been analyzed, written about, discussed, and mulled over extensively in the past decade.

Listening means to sincerely try to understand another person’s point of view until that person feels understood. Many books and training programs go into detail on developing this skill. Needless to say, listening is a hard job.

After you listen and truly understand, then comes the action. Acting after listening ensures that you are doing things that will actually solve some problem, issue, or concern.

How many times have you acted first based on rumors, innuendos, half truths, and judgments only to find out later that your actions were meaningless or even embarrassing because you didn’t listen.

I found during my leadership experiences that be being a great listener builds trust and rapport. As Stephen M.R. Covey wrote in his book – The Speed of Trust – The One Thing That Changes Everything
“Trust brings out the best in people – and literally changes the dynamics of interaction”

This is so true…I found it out first hand – time after time

I also think one of the ultimate qualities of a leader is humility. And one of the best ways to be a humble leader is shut up and listen…

And maybe you do that my Leading by Walking Around (Called LBWA). What it means is getting off your computer – getting out of your office and getting out there with your people and customers…going to the front lines, and all those areas that support the business. Being seen… engaging… showing you are interested…building trust by being seen.

Then listen – work hard not to have an opinion – keep asking probing questions and pay attention to what is being said.

AND… not just listen with your ears – but listen with your heart and your eyes. I call it – Listen BIG
Leaders do not do enough of this…we seem to get caught up in the thick of thin things and let the important things slip.

Twelve Guidelines for Leading By Walking Around (LBWA)
(see www.LeadBig.net and www.WardClapham.com for more details)

Do it to everyone.

You may remain in such close contact with your direct reports that LBWA is redundant with them. The real power of the technique lies in the time you spend with those in lower levels of your area of responsibility. Get around to see those who work for your direct reports and any others whose work is important to you.

Do it as often as you can.

LBWA sends positive messages to employees. It reveals your interest in them and in their work, and it says you don’t consider yourself “too good” to spend time with them. LBWA also enables you to stay in touch with what is going on in your department, section or unit. Put aside at least thirty minutes a week to spend with all employees. Aim for once a quarter to see those you must travel long distances to visit.

Go by yourself.

LBWA is more meaningful when you visit with employees alone, and one-on-one. It encourages more honest dialogue and speaks loudly of your personal commitment to the idea.

Don’t circumvent subordinate managers.

Some employees may take advantage of your presence to complain about a supervisor who is your subordinate. Counsel them to discuss the issue fully with their supervisor first. If you have cause to question the supervisor’s judgement, don’t indicate so to the employee, but follow up privately with the supervisor.

Ask questions.

LBWA is a great opportunity to observe those “moments of truth” when your employees interact with your clients. Ask them to tell you a little bit about the files, projects or duties they are working on. Take care to sound inquisitive rather than intrusive.

Watch and listen.

Take in everything. Listen to the words and tone of employees as they speak to you and to each other. You’ll learn a lot about their motivation and their levels of satisfaction. In the words of Yogi Berra, “You can observe a lot just by watching.”

Share your dreams with them.

As a Yukon Dog Team handler used to say, “The view only changes for the lead dog.” LBWA is a solid opportunity to make sure that when you lead the sled in a new direction, the employees behind you won’t trip over themselves trying to follow. Tell them about the organization’s vision for the future, and where your vision for the department / unit/ section fits in with the “big picture.” Reveal the goals and objectives that you want them to help you fulfill together as a team. Ask them for their vision, and hold an open discussion.

Try out their work.

Plop down in front of the computer; get behind the wheel; pick up the telephone; review a project file. Experience what they endure. Sample their job just enough to show your interest in it, and to understand how it goes. Think of great ways to reconnect with your front line workers, and gain a current understanding of exactly what they are dealing with during a typical work day.

Bring good news.

Walk around armed with information about recent successes or positive initiatives. Give them the good news. Increase their confidence and brighten their outlook. So often employees are fed only gloom and doom. Neutralize pessimism with your own optimism, without being non-credible.

Have fun.

This is a chance to lighten up, joke around, and show your softer side without being disrespectful or clowning around. Show employees that work should be fun and that you enjoy it too.

Catch them in the act of doing something right.

Look for victories rather than failures. When you find one, applaud it. When you run into one of the many unsung heroes in your job site, thank them on the spot, being careful not to embarrass them in front of peers or to leave out other deserving employees.

Don’t be critical.

When you witness a performance gone wrong, don’t criticize the performer. Correct on the spot anything that must be redone, but wait to speak to the wrongdoer’s supervisor to bring about corrective action.

More information at www.WardClapham.com and www.LeadBig.net

Excerpt
LBWA – Do ONE (1) of the twelve guidelines everyday. Write it down. Take your time. Just like a farmer, plant the seeds and nurture them over time. You see…..there are NO shortcuts when it comes to building trust and relationships. For many, that is a hard pill to swallow. Taking the long way is being “strategic”.

Do you want to make an incredible transformation, and gain the respect of your employees and clients? Then practice the Twelve Guiding Principles listed. Begin to see and listen differently. Guess what? You will begin to see your business from the eyes of the crew. Guess What? Those layers of insulation will break down and you will begin to realize your staff has the Future Answers , the Future Directions of the business. Pay attention. Today…and you will see Total Success, Big Money and most of all…..Happy Employees.

This is the hard part. Putting these insights – these leadership principles in play, hour-by-hour , day-by-day. This is really what every organization and business is seeking, and so desperate for…but so many want the QUICK FIX.

We think that if we send our people to a workshop, or a course or two that everything should be fixed and new behaviour will begin.

We all know there is no quick fix in institutionalizing these principles into your organization and an employee’s DNA. It is the law of the farm – You have to plant the seeds, nurture and water them, it takes time. But you reap what you sow.
Here is what I did…

Internalize First

I worked on myself. I figured if I don’t have it together – then shame on me to try and ask others
I call it…Get MY Ship Together ( the SHIP analogy is from a good friend and mentor of mine – retired Captain Mike Abrashoff)

I worked on myself first. I spent quality time to deeply study, understood and internalize the principles

I think leaders need to ask themselves – how can I was others to embrace the unconventional if I am not there first?

I bombarded myself with leadership teachings, books and living examples, found examples of those putting parts into play…I was looking for the common attractors within the CHAOS of leadership that resonated with me and the insights I was discovering

I commend all the reader of this blog – what a GREAT WAY, a NEW AGE way, to develop and internalize their leadership tool kit

Externalize Next… I call it… Get OUR Ship Together

I took one bite size piece at a time, and began applying it hour by hour…day-by-day. On Sundays, before my work week, I would plan my week around the Insight I wanted to apply. I would build it into my work week. If the weekly INSIGHT that I wanted to apply was, for example…fun (Making the workplace somewhere everyone wanted to be) – I would look for ways that I could… and my leaders could … well make it fun.

I would show humorous 1 minute video clips before our DAILY meetings. I would give gift cards to my leaders and have them take their team for coffee – or I would have a surprise pizza delivery to my investigators while they were working on a very intensive criminal investigation.

What worked for me is that I did this every week – As I got more comfortable, I was able to combine and enhance the INSIGHTS into application.

My Suggestion to the Listeners… pick one insight and introduce that into your work week through daily activities. Then inspire your team to do the same. Keep applying this insight until it becomes a routine for you…so it becomes your habit – your default.

9 “Break With Insights” and how leaders can “do” and “see” things differently

In Lead Big: Discovering the Upside of Unconventional Leadership, 9 Break With Insights are introduced. These break-withs are the unconventional…they are what leaders should be doing…

1. Cling to purpose, not to policy. – this is about harnessing the passion and igniting the spark in all of us. Not being chained to a desk with a 20 pound rule book, as we know this is a fast track to disengaging creativity and innovation

2. Lead from the bottom up, not from the top down. – this is all about servant leadership – serving not ordering

3. Ordinary=visioning, planning, and executing. Extraordinary=visioning, planning, executing, and adjusting. – the course corrections, the trim tab, the ability to flex and adapt

4. Listen with no expectations, agendas, or preconceived notions. – the art of listening. Introducing humility (you don’t know it all) one of the greatest virtues of a successful leader is humility and the best way to live it – is by always listening

5. Empower employees by inspiring progress and performance. – unleash you team – leadership is about letting go – people want to progress – advance

6. You will succeed if you tend to the web—continually building and rebuilding connections, partnerships, relationships. You will fail if you don’t. – this is about coming together – synergy and third alternative thinking and solutions

7. Primarily focus on prevention, not on treatment. – attack not react.
I have a saying “if it’s predictable, it’s preventable”. Think of all the things in business that are so predictable that just sideways because nobody has a preventative mindset – with a preventative lens, you can save big dollars on things that are obviously going to go wrong.

8. Never underestimate the value of fun.- love going to work, respectful humor and fun

9. Win the crowd and you will win your change. – the swing vote 80% and work smartly with the other 20% the immovables and laggards

If a leader “institutionalizes” these insights into their DNA and then works feverishly to develop their teams and organization to adopt them, exciting things happen. I experienced it first hand – something I never expected – that surpassed my wildest dreams.

Simply put…Every breakthrough first requires a break with the old paradigms, practices, and principles that tether people and organizations to the status quo.

People who are successful today, the rich and famous, the super achievers, were not born with the proverbial gold spoon in their mouth. They followed religiously, nine simple, but highly effective insights that broke with traditional status quo. After applying these insights into daily action, amazing breakthroughs occurred in their personal and professional lives.
I believe every person has the ability to make their big breakthrough. However, a word of caution…making your big break takes time, it requires small steps, and the continuous application of the principles

A breakthrough requires a series of “break-withs” It is the “break-withs” that when applied continuously and consistently by leaders and organizations, that leads to positive change, positive results.

The issue is that some leaders, and organizations are unwilling or unable to LET GO. They want to hang on to the old ways and solve the problems they are facing today by working harder and faster doing the same things….guess what? They get the same results.

Instead, what is needed is… breaking with old paradigms, practices and principles that hold people and business to the status quo ( the status quo being the “current or existing state”)

I have found that leadership is really all about letting go…letting go of the ineffective ways (and letting go of power)…the challenge is… how to let go, what to let go, when to let go and to who

One thing I know for sure…The only guarantees in life are taxes, death and I would add one more…CHANGE
And it is the CHANGE part within leadership that I talk about in my book. How I changed and how I changed my team, my leaders, communities and businesses towards a new mind set, skill set and tool set. And I was able to do this within a very entrenched, command and control, autocratic culture to say the least.

It was in this command and control structure, that I discovered the break-with’s, the letting go of the old ways (or the incomplete ways) that directed me towards a smarter way of solving problems and leading.

Montreal Police appealed to the public Wednesday for help in locating a stolen laptop that belongs to a woman with terminal cancer. Marisol Turcios recorded farewell messages to her five children on the black Sony Vaio laptop. If this does not break your heart, nothing will.

I want to share with you a proven technology you can put on your laptop that will give the police a fighting chance to recover your stolen computer. It is called Computrace, also known as LoJack for Laptops. With this piece of protection on your laptop, if it is ever stolen, the tracking software can help the police nab the suspect and get your computer back. You can find more information at www.absolute.com

Read this story and watch the video…
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2011/12/21/police-terminally-ill-laptop-stolen.html

Command & Control management disengages workers costing Canada approx $35
Billion a year and $350 Billion a year for the United States in lost
productivity and revenue. We could probably be out of debt by just focusing on
this one problem alone? Coming from a command and control background, I deeply
connect with the challenges employees face today from old school – dinosaur
managers. A break with the status quo of traditional “carrot and
stick” management style is required is effectively move organizations and business
to that next realm. We are hiring knowledge workers in a knowledge
worker age. These talented people, and their support staff, require leadership
that allows them break with the status quo…yet still follow the principles and
guidelines developed around this new social reality. Ultimately, leadership is
all about “letting go”. The trick is…how you let go, when, why and to whom!
Proper vision, planning, execution and the continuous adjustment of the action
taking place will point you towards great success…and you will have engaged and
connected employees with great attitude and morale = increased productivity and
bottom line.  Learn more at www.LeadBig.net

I was asked by the Greg McKeown, co-author of the Wall Street Journal Bestselling book – “Multipliers – How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter” for my advice to the President of Chile as to what to do right now regarding the massive civil unrest, protests, and violence (even killing) they are currently facing.

Well, what a huge topic.  So instead of too many details,  I put some thoughts to paper for any politician or leader to consider when it comes to solving problems and leading people…
(what I have written is no way complete or comprehensive…just some first initials steps in a generic fashion…who am I to advise a president 🙂

for what it is worth…here are my suggestions to anyone in the business of leading that wants to make quantum leap…in other words, is looking for that next “big” thing that will make a significant difference in their life, their business, their organization, even their country.   I am speaking about the paradigm shift…shifting from leadership… from leadership to servantship.

Subject: Your Genius Required
Hi Ward,
If you were advising the President of Chile as to what to do right now, what you suggest?
http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/08/26/chile-politics-strike-death-idINN1E77P01X20110826
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/9815683
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/chile/index.html
Cheers,
Greg

Hi Greg

Oh man – where do I start?  What a mess – but then, where is it not a mess

People need hope.  I would advise the President that he needs to step up to the plate and be the CHIEF of HOPE

and he is the CHIEF DOT CONNECTOR

He needs to bring hope to the country and their trading partners asap…and execute relentlessly on the vision

I will keep this strategic and short…if you want more…just ask.

Vision –
I believe it starts with a crystal clear vision.   … a sustainable civil society

This resonates with me…   Sustainable    Civil     Society     I think the rest of what is need fits within these 3 words

I then see…

Peace – wellness – prosperity – harmony – happiness – love – legacy

He needs to immediately reconnect to the timeless principles that his community has embedded within their culture – just repackage quickly on a go forward basis

I think the quicker he can show the greatest humility of a leader – listening, the better.  The quicker he listens and then acts on the low hanging fruity the better.  I have a saying in policing

You mess up
You fess up
You dress up

Time to listen, fess up and dress up.  Right or wrong in his mind – he is wrong as far as the public is concerned.

The keys I see are (1) partnerships (2) prevention and (3) initiative taking

Act on low hanging fruit – show action, momentum and genuine servant leadership that he cares and will change.

Start immediately and apologize to the country for not listening and for being disconnected

Then, build short term, mid term and long term strategies to begin the turn around.   Execute simultaneously on all fronts.

So

What would I do

I would personally watch some video clips / readings of the some of the world’s most respected elders – wisdom clips of some the greatest servant leaders of our time.  This would ground me on where I need to readjust / realign – reconnect.      http://www.theelders.org/

I would bring together my team and share my “ah ha” moments and the changes that we need to bring about together.  No involvement – no ownership.  So the team needs to be included right from the “get go”.  I cannot stress how important it is to get your team to believe in the vision.

I would be relentless on meeting – listening – building trust – showing “we care” and acting on gaps… you got to know there are several things to show the good will that they could do with the stroke of a pen.

I believe the rest will come slowly – once trust is established

and this does not occur overnight…   and here is the presidents and any politicians challenge – they operate in a 3 – 4 year election cycle.  The system does not support the long term – “the law of the harvest” type initiatives.  Politicians are all about getting re-elected and they need immediate results (the quick fix).  Many of the problems we face today are complex – generational problems.  They cannot be solved overnight…sorry.  4 to 5 years will not “end crime” – it will not “end poverty” – it will not “end unemployment”.  But you know what – a solid plan with deliverables immediately, short term, mid term and long term will succeed.

I have another saying that goes like this…”you cannot arrest your way out of a problem it took generations to create”

In the end – it comes down to courage of the leader to have the guts to be “The Chief of Hope – Chief Dot Connector” and most importantly…  take the leap to the next level AFTER leadership.

Instead of leadership – this is about “servantship”   (not servant leadership)… servantship

Simply put – your job is to serve.

You are a servant – serve your fellow man and woman, serve your team,  serve your community, serve your customers…

Just Serve…

Serve and They Will Follow

I believe that the Key to True Happiness and Great Rewards is service.

and in return – as by-product of truly serving, you will…
– find your fountain of energy – reach your full potential
– uncover inner peace – create outer harmony
– bring your vision to fruition
– inspire your followers
– make a difference
– live your legacy

Servantship
This is truly the next quantum leap from leadership…our elders have had it figured out since the dawn of man…

How long will it take main stream society to wake up to the wisdom of our past?

Remember…
Every breakthrough first requires a break with the old paradigms, practices, and principles that tether people and organizations to the status quo.

More to follow…

www.servantship.com (coming soon)

cheers
Ward Clapham

Attend Ward’s workshop on How Positive Reinforcement Can Drive Performance from your desk!
Thursday, August 25, 2011   2pm – 3pm Eastern      http://ow.ly/68O8z

Learn how to ignite the spark withing their people through delivering the unexpected – how to use innovation, creativity and a break-with mentality to solve problems before they occur – how to realign systems and structures to institutionalize a positive ticket philosophy.