The Audacity of Hope

I have written quite a bit over the last few weeks about engagement and personal competency among other things. I actually think that these two things have the opportunity to contribute pretty significantly to the issues we face.
To support my position I would point out the $200 billion annually that the American Mental Health Association says we are losing to "presenteeism". I would also point out that organizations that successfully embrace and implement an engagement strategy enjoy competitive advantages in productivity, profitability, and sustainability. Only 30 percent of organizations have implemented such a plan. Maybe they can do more for us than relying exclusively on government support from the stimulus package.
I think the time has come for us to look at new models and new partnerships. The old models aren't working.

I had some positive things happen this week that cause me to believe that we may come out of this ok.
I had the opportunity to accompany my son on an interview of a colleague I respect very much. This gentleman and his family represent an old fashion sense of values that " to whom much is given, much is required". They have quietly, but methodically provided leadership in their community for five generations. It was especially rewarding to hear him discuss how his personal leadership model had evolved and how he had embraced "engagement" as a model for community development. He told my son that "people support what they build and own" and how he had come to a place of recognizing his role as a "visionary" and explorer, but the most important part of that role was to pass ownership of the vision and its outcomes on to others. It wasn't his success that was critical, it is the success of the vision.
What was even more exciting is that he had asked his nephew to participate in our discussion. His family was not only personally "paying forward" in the community, he was providing the role modeling and the expectation to the next generation that the same would be expected of them. His nephew seemed absolutely committed to that prospect and prepared to embrace it as well.
Quite bluntly those values are not being taught in most of our business schools. While we revere explorers- we teach mapping. We focus on data and systems, not communications and engagement. Technology and information are important, but they don't create engagement. It is good to know that they are being taught.

I had an opportunity as well to catch up with a former protege. He has demonstrated the capacity and capability to lead and I am pleased to see an organization recognize that. It was really meaningful to hear him discuss taking conversations we had and problems we had worked on in a previous "life" and use them as learning opportunities for his current staff. He too recognizes and embraces the concept of "paying it forward". It was also great to hear him talk about a multi year strategy to move the organization from compliance to commitment. He recognized both what needs to occur and that it is a process rather than an event.

I have commented before that I think the current generations or not as complacent or disloyal as we describe them. They just reject a lot of our models.

Our current models encourage people to exchange personal competency for "security". Unfortunately we can't provide security anymore either. A lot of people "grew up" in an environment where the employer provided their health care and their retirement. We took those competencies away from them. Now we want to either give the responsibilities back or have the government manage them. When we began losing ground in productivity our first reaction was protectionism and the second was off shoring. Neither of those sound like personal competency either.
We are angry at the financial services organizations and the automobile manufacturers, but haven't we been complicit there as well? We took the loans and we bought the cars.

The young people I had a chance to interact with said a couple of things that stuck with me. You must role model the behavior you expect and you must hold yourself personally accountable. They seem to get it. They also seem to recognize that people need help seeing a different way to do things, especially when it was never expected of them or encouraged.

I am hoping that our current crisis provides the catalyst to explore a different model between employer and employed and between government and citizen. Let's not be enablers, let's be partners. I think that is what the Founding Fathers had in my mind when Madison suggested a central government to deal with the issues of the "great and aggregate". One could make an argument hat considering where we are as a society with health care, education, and productivity the government has a role, but that role should be limited to catalyst and facilitator.

So my "hope" springs from two sources; the courage and commitment of my colleague and people and families like his, and the "emerging" leadership I see willing and able to explore a new model.

Are You Building Your Lighthouse?

In my mind a lighthouse is a guide or a reference point that allows people to find their direction while reducing their "danger". It is not a map, or a set of instructions, it is a guide. So I ask the question are you building a lighthouse for those you care about to guide their way?

I look at it from several levels. I recently posted a question on LinkedIn on where are we are teaching the important skills people need to live and work in our complicated society. Interpersonal and communication skills, teamwork and "playing well" with others, leadership, and followership. In many cases people told those skills need to be developed in the home or on the playground, that waiting till someone enters the workforce is too late.

I also heard from graduates and employers that we are not teaching skills like giving feedback, setting expectations, taking corrective action, and similar skills in our top management skills with any consistency. And what about coaching, which is different from these others skills?
I asked another question about whether or not these skills are "universal" as applicable in all cultures as in the West. Most agreed that these along with a series of "attributes" that we call leadership are desirable even if in some cultures they would be more aspirational than immediately transferable. How about building and giving trust, where do we teach that?

I don't know about others who have had the opportunity to hire and train employees and "emerging" managers, but I have encountered a few who didn't come to the job with this "toolkit" in hand.
A colleague recently said in discussion that he found the Gen Xer's and Millenials to be unreceptive to mentoring. I mused that maybe they had never experienced it and didn't know how to accept it or ask for it rather than rejected it.

I am pondering a theory that we need a three level approach to "Coaching":

• The most currently applied model is "executive coaching", which as it implies is working with someone at a senior level to prepare them or "rehabilitate" them and increase their effectiveness in a management or leadership role. This is generally one on one, expensive, and limited to a select population. Enlightened entrepreneurs are embracing this technique as well as they move from "founder/owner" to CEO.
• Some organizations have "leadership" academies or programs for mid level managers who have been identified for potential advancement. I have participated in developing and implementing these programs with a degree of success, especially when you combine "training" with ongoing reinforcement from their immediate supervisor and management chain of command.
• The last level is aspirational. It is what I call a true coaching culture. The skills sets of front line management: setting expectations, giving and receiving feedback constructively, taking appropriate corrective action, recognizing positive results, and generally "blocking and tackling" for your team are foundation skills for everyone in the organization. Additionally, senior managers including the C level are spending time coaching and interacting with "emerging" leaders as mentors and coaches. It is embedded in the culture.

I think if you create this culture you have created the essential foundation for engagement. It doesn't remove the need for vision, strategy and leadership; but it provides one Hell of a foundation to build on.

I like to think I began building my "lighthouse" with my children years ago and I have built a few others I hope, only time will tell.

If you are ready to build your lighthouse, we would like to assist you. The Business Case for Engagement says it all, commitment is simply better than compliance.