Qualities of Resourceful Leaders

Resourceful leaders get more done with available resources than less resourceful managers. It results in outcomes that far exceed expectations. It's critical for organizations challenged by competition, technology, suppliers, customers and the economy.

The ability of an organization to leverage their resources to provide excellent service, to meet and exceed commitments and to move forward technologically is a huge competitive advantage. Some organizations just seem to do a better job than others - one of the main reasons is resourceful leaders - at all levels.

What are the qualities resourceful leaders share - regardless of position within an organization?

We asked our clients - here's what they identified as eight essentials for resourceful leaders.

1 - The ability to create commitment - to get resources aligned and working toward a common goal - and a goal that is well understood. It's a "we're all in this together" approach. It's identifying and communicating a common cause that is worthy; that all can contribute to; and that results in individual and group recognition.

2 - It's being open to possibilities - wherever they may come from. It's taking inventory of what has gone before, rather than reinventing the wheel. NIH - (not invented here) thinking is unacceptable. It's engaging the people in the process - getting the best thinking and commitment of the internal experts.

3 - It's knowing success is not measured in energy expended or dollars spent, but in results. Results that come from SMART goals. Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant/Realistic and Time Framed. It's using goals to create expectations within the organization - from the top to the people who do the work.

4 - It's having an abundance mentality - the belief that there is plenty for everybody - you just gotta go and find it - and be open to finding it in the most unusual places. It's having the willingness to share - information, resources, credit, recognition. Collaboration skills and behaviors are essential.

5 - A resourceful leader always starts with the questions: "What do I Have?" and "What can I do with what I have?"

6 - Resourceful leaders know that simpicity is key to effective action and that complexity is the enemy of resourcefulness.

7 - It's the belief that the impact and contribution of the cumulative knowledge and effort of an effective team will always exceed that of any single person.

8 - Resourceful leaders listen and amend and learn and apply on the fly. They know that plans rarely survive the first contact with action - they value plans as a first step, and as a measure for progress and change.

Resourcefulness is part of the behavior and motivators of leaders; it exists in organizations where it is appreciated and rewarded. It's not just seen in crisis or projects - it's an everyday behavior. But it needs to be recognized and rewarded for it to grow. And the most fertile place for resourcefulness to grow is in a results oriented, goal directed environment.

Imagine how much more effective you and your enterprise can be by encouraging the development of these behaviors and beliefs and skills. Start today to develop a more resourcefulness friendly environment - and be amazed at the talent that you already possess.

Written by Andy Cox, President

Cox Consulting Group, 4049 E Vista Drive, Phoenix, AZ 85032 Ph: 602-795-4100; Fax: 602-795-4800; E Mail: acox@coxconsultgroup.com; Website: http://www.coxconsultgroup.com/; Blog: http://multiplysuccess.blogspot.com/

Copyright 2008 All Rights Reserved

Lessons In Survival - A Critical Leadership Skill

To survive - to hang in there - to keep your head while all around you others are losing theirs - to stay in play - is a critical skill of leaders. Let's face it - even the most astute, successful person will suffer setbacks, and surviving and overcoming those setbacks is the true measure of a leader.

To some, survival sounds like a skill for a loser. And, frankly, there are many who try to survive by holding back, by not taking risk, by getting as invisible as possible. Those are not the behaviors of leaders - they are not what survival means in this article - and they lead to failure.

An example of survival and leadership:

A client had a business unit that was doing badly. Unprofitable, losing customers, over budget. The business unit leader had been in the job for six months - not long enough to have created the mess, but long enough to be held accountable for it. Her predecessor had held the job for ten years - and then retired with honors. There were many days when she felt like giving up. She felt that she was more a victim than anything else. She had been a top performer in every other assignment given her. She felt she had gone from the a top 5 percenter in her company to being perceived as a loser by former colleagues. Everyone likes a winner - no one wants to be associated with what looks like a loser. No one was going to rescue her from this situation - she was either going to sink or swim.

She felt she had four choices:

1 - She could quit and find another employer - she was highly regarded in the market.

2 - She could stay and look at who to blame. She could try to cash in on her former accomplishments and get a transfer - or not be held accountable - or be given lots of slack.

3- She could let the situation tear her down, wallow in self pity and blame fate, and turn into a part of the problem - rather than be part of the solution.

4 - She could do what she had to do to survive the situation - stay afloat, give herself a timetable, work to improve performance, and then decide where her future lay.

She chose the last alternative. She reviewed it with her boss - he agreed with her. For the first time in her career she was faced with stabilizing a losing business, rather than growing a winning one. What a difference! Going from winning as a strategy to surviving - as a strategy - at least as a first step strategy.

She shared her survival strategy with her staff - and watched their reactions. They ranged from acceptance to indifference. This unit was part of a much larger company, and some of her staff had friends in other parts of the organization that could "take care of them." She let some people transfer to other parts of the business - got rid of some others - and brought in key people who saw their new positions as a chance to prove themselves.

She put together a "stop the bleeding" short term plan with goals and measures that could be quantified and tracked and reported on regularly. No "BHAGS" here ( Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals). Her boss gave his support -while keeping the situation at arm's length. The plan was shared with the people in the business unit, and every person was expected to establish goals that contributed to the plan. Some did - some didn't. The plan worked - at least to the extent that the bleeding stopped and the business returned to marginal profitability in six months. No celebrations were held - but the leader and her staff were pleased with their progress -they knew just how much had been accomplished - although no one else seemed to share their emotions.

As the six month plan unfolded, it became clear to her that some significant investments in capital and systems were going to be necessary if the business was to prosper - and there was some risk that, even with those investments, prosperity might not happen. The fight for capital was intense, and other, more successful business units got their share - and hers as well.

She gave it six more months. In that time, steady progress was made, customers were won back, and profitability continued to improve. At the same time, she sensed a growing impatience from her boss with the rate of progress - but no real help in the form of additional resources. At this point she was 18 months into her job, and while she had seen major progress, very little recognition of her accomplishments came her way. She gave it six more months.

At the end of two years in the assignment, when continued improvement went unrewarded, she resigned.

When asked about that experience five years later, she said it was by far the most valuable of her career. When pressed to identify what particularly valuable lessons she had taken from the experience that helped her be successful - and she had become very successful - she listed the following:

• You gotta pick your spots carefully. Every organization has top units and bad units. To decide to survive in a marginal unit with little upside is not very bright. Be sure the survival situation has an upside.
• The decision to fight through a tough situation, and take the risk of surviving, must be a conscious one. And once it's made, all effort must be directed forward. It's easy in these situations to adopt a "why me" or victim attitude - and that is fatal.
• Managing, defining and communicating expectations in a survival situation are absolutely critical skills - more than in a highly successful business. Pressure from above to see progress can lead to commitments being made that simply cannot be kept. And intentions sound good at the beginning of a reporting period - but only results matter. "Hockey stick" forecasts and plans - where all the good news is forecast to occur near the end of the measurement period - are always greeted with suspicion.
• Tolerance for mistakes is much lower in survival situations. And negative outcomes that would be ignored in a successful business are magnified and used as examples of just how bad things are - while good news is received with skepticism. Protecting and insulating the people committed to making it work from harsh criticism and judgment is a major task for the survival leader.
• A survival leader must have a core group of optimistic believers who are committed to making it work.
• Stay in close contact with the Boss - absolutely no surprises are allowed.
• Keep people focused on improvement through widely communicated goals they can share and buy into.
• Don't let people see your discouragement at bad news - and there is always bad news in survival situations. Your negative emotions will be multiplied 100 times by those that observe them.
• Survival mode must be a temporary situation - it's easy to slip into a survival mind set and make it a long term behavior.
• Survival - both personal and organizational - is often thankless. While in survival mode leaders have to see the value of their contribution themselves. Often, there is very little positive recognition given to survival.
• The worst thing a survival leader can do is to stay in place and let the situation grind them down. When the best shot has been given, and it remains apparent that that isn't enough, move on - that's always a choice - always. Know when to hold, and know when to fold.
• In the stress of survival situations, it's easy to personalize all kinds of things. Don't. The ability to see things for what they are - no more or no less - is a necessary ability. Trying to ascribe motive, or waste time on hidden meanings are great ways to lose control and perspective.

These Lessons In Survival were learned the hard way. That's the only way to learn. If you see yourself or your organization in survival mode - use these Lessons to inventory what and how you can apply them to get through it better, quicker and more successfully.

Written by Andy Cox, President

Cox Consulting Group, 4049 E Vista Drive, Phoenix, AZ 85032 Ph: 602-795-4100; Fax: 602-795-4800; E Mail: acox@coxconsultgroup.com; Website: http://www.coxconsultgroup.com/; Blog: http://multiplysuccess.blogspot.com/

Copyright 2008 All Rights Reserved

Leaders Know High Expectations Lead to High Performance

Leaders know high expectations lead to high performance. Leaders know that the more people believe in themselves, and their leaders believe in them, the more they will accomplish - at all levels.

We often think of leadership in terms of the Jack Welch's; the leaders of the military; the leaders of our government and institutions; the leaders of our industries. But leadership doesn't come in any particular wrapper - it shows up all over the place.

Let me share a story of real leadership:

A young girl, in second grade in a small town in Wisconsin was tested and classified as a below grade level student. That designation put her in an educational wasteland. Not much expected of her, not much effort spent on her development. Her parents discovered she had a vision problem - she had been accommodating it by memorizing everything. It caught up with her in second grade. Her parents fixed the vision problem. Her parents talked to the school, but they were firm in their decision to keep her in a below grade level class. The young girl had a hard time thinking of herself as being as good as other kids - after all, her school said she wasn't up to standard. And now she was the only kid in class with glasses.

After this young girl had completed fourth grade, her family moved to California. It was a good time to let this young girl catch her breath academically, and so she repeated fourth grade. No onus on it - she was in a completely different place.

And then the stars aligned and this young girl met the leader who would take her to a new place in her life.

Her fourth grade teacher was Mrs. Kruger. A former military nurse who had been in the South Pacific during WW II. No nonsense, firm, tough. On parents night she warned all parents to let her students be accountable for their actions. If a student forgot their lunch, don't bring it to school. They won't starve. Let the kids know they are responsible for their own actions. There were no below grade level kids in Mrs Kruger's world. The young girl did forget her lunch early in the year. She came home hungry, but she never forgot it again.

Mrs Kruger taught from high expectations. If an assignment was turned in that didn't meet her expectations for that student, they got to do it over, and over, and over - until she was satisfied that they had done their best work. The young girl was forced to redo her work often, and she didn't always like it. But the work she turned in after being forced to redo it was always better for the extra effort - and she saw that - and knew hard work resulted in accomplishment.

There was no horseplay in Mrs Kruger's class - no disrespect. She simply would not let it happen. Her class was a demanding, but safe place for her students to learn. She was energetic, critical, optimistic, and a wonderful teacher for this little girl. Her students respected and feared her - although she never threatened or used force of any kind. She just demanded her students do their best - even if they weren't convinced they could do better. And when they did, she recognized them with praise.

After a year with Mrs Kruger, this young lady had achieved a three grade level improvement in reading, writing and arithmetic. It wasn't easy - she worked really hard. But she knew she had performed - and what a change that made in her feelings about herself.

From that start - from that year with Mrs Kruger, this young woman went on to Honors Level classes in high school, to graduating from Boston College, and to getting her Masters in Special Education from Simmons College in Boston.

We're very proud of our daughter- and we're very thankful that she had the opportunity to spend a year of her young life learning from Mrs Kruger - a true leader.

There are so many qualities that a leader may possess - but the qualities of optimism; of demanding and expecting the best; of rewarding accomplishment; rank at the very top of the leadership list.

Take a look at how much you expect from yourself - and from others. If there is room for improvement, think of this story of Mrs Kruger, who made such a difference in our daughter's life - and then go out and make it happen.

Do it today. We all can be Mrs Kruger in our own way.

Written by Andy Cox, President

Cox Consulting Group, 4049 E Vista Drive, Phoenix, AZ 85032 Ph: 602-795-4100; Fax: 602-795-4800; E Mail: acox@coxconsultgroup.com; Website: http://www.coxconsultgroup.com/; Blog: http://multiplysuccess.blogspot.com/

Copyright 2007 All Rights Reserved

Increase Success In Evaluating People

How do you increase your success in evaluating people? Education, technical skills, experience and industry knowledge can be defined and verified. But most people don't succeed or fail because of those elements of who they are. Most people succeed or fail based on how well their mix of values, attitudes, behaviors and personal skills fit the situation. And the higher one goes in an organization, the truer that becomes. How to get at that information when evaluating people for selection, promotion, team involvement and personal and organizational development?

Experts and successful leaders all share a little known fact about human behavior, and use it in evaluating people. They know that every one of us believes other people will act, react, understand and judge as we would - given the same circumstances. That is not a correct belief - but it is a belief.

Professionals use that information to gain insights into what people really believe, how they will behave, and what personal skills they value. Being able to do that is a secret to success in selection, relationships and leadership.

How do you do that?

Example: With a candidate, ask them to provide a situation where something was done - preferably work related. Then ask him/her the who, what, when, where and why questions about the situation and how it played out. Here's the secret: rather than ask them about their role, ask them about the roles, actions. motives, values of others involved in the situation. Be ready to gain insights and information about the candidate as he/she reflects on the attitudes, motives, behaviors and skills of others. The key is that we all tend to think that others act, judge, assume and possess many of the same skills as we do. By asking about a third person you do the following:

- People tend to be freer in providing their opinions, assumptions and judgments when it is directed at someone other than themselves.

- By speculating on the motives, judgment and behaviors of others, the candidates are telling a great deal about themselves. And if they won't speculate, they're still telling a lot about themselves.

A story to illustrate how this technique can be used:

A company undergoing substantial change in its behavior toward its employees, as a result of a crisis, was attempting to hire a Chief Operating Officer who would be critical to the success of the behavior change. One of the principal concerns of the new CEO was that the person hired would reflect the behaviors and beliefs that would be critical to the change. Old habits and values die hard, and the organization had a lot of very valuable, experienced people who had prospered in a very authoritarian, compliance, do what you're told to do, micro-managed culture. The culture envisioned by the CEO was very different. Open communication, trust, people as our biggest asset, less stove pipes, more cross functional teams, encourage innovation, high leverage,of talent were all part of his vision.

As the CEO interviewed each of the top candidates for the position, they all agreed with his vision. All were able to provide examples of how they had either built or maintained that kind of culture in their past jobs. All agreed the vision of culture the CEO had was the way to go. Personal chemistry was good with all the top candidates. Their references were excellent. How to pick this critical person to lead change?

The CEO decided one last round of in depth one on one interviews was in order. The focus of the interviews would be on better understanding the candidates own behaviors, attitudes and personal skills. And he would do that by engaging them in conversations about the behaviors, skills and attitudes of other key people the candidates had worked with.

Key questions he asked each candidate included:

Why do you think that person made that decision?
What do you think motivated them to make that decision?
What do you think that decision was based on?
What would you do if you had been in their shoes?
How do you think he/she should have handled it?
Were they successful in that situation? What made them successful?
What kept them from success?
How did the people affected by the situation handle it?
Who was to blame for the situation? Who got the credit/recognition?

The CEO was looking for attitudes, values, behaviors and acknowledgment of personal skills that he felt were critical to the culture change process. By having the candidates evaluate the behaviors, values, and personal skills of others he was able to better understand the candidates own unique mix of values, behaviors and skills. What came out of that last round of interviews helped him make what is always - after all the dust has settled - an intuitive decision. But an intuitive decision based on a much greater understanding than by simply evaluating candidate responses to questions about themselves.

Can this approach be applied at other levels in an organization? Of course.

If you are using assessments to evaluate people for selection, check to see if they provide you with these kinds of insights. If they don't - or if they are too complex to be applied in the real world, look for assessments that can help. They exist, I can assure you.

In addition to assessments, hiring managers and their support people can develop the expertise to make this approach a key part of their selection and development process. People have beliefs that come out in their perception of the behavior of others. A good example is the high control micro manager. There is a very good chance that a high control person has a value that places low trust on others, and that person assumes others feel the same way. Interviews can peel away the responses that the candidate feels are expected, and get at their beliefs - the belief they express through their opinion of others.

Another example is the person who uses blame in a response to a question about others - either to defend or to place fault. You can bet that person will be a blamer, regardless how they may portray their own behavior in an interview.

It's important to get the candidate to tell you about themselves, but it is equally valuable to get them to tell you about their evaluation of others - it tells you so much about them. Use this key to increase your success in dealing with people in all kinds of situations.

Written by Andy Cox, President

Cox Consulting Group LLC, 4049 E Vista Drive, Phoenix, AZ 85032 Ph: 602-795-4100; Fax: 602-795-4800; E Mail: acox@coxconsultgroup.com, Website: http://www.coxconsultgroup.com/

Copyright 2007 All Rights Reserved

Successful Leadership - Beware The Silver Bullets

We are all tempted to keep looking for that one person, that one application, that one solution, that one customer that will make all the bad things go away and breathe new life into whatever we've been stuck with. The Silver Bullet - the epiphany - the stroke of lightning that cures all ills. Billions of dollars are spent every year on hope - and Silver Bullets - with little if any positive effect.

A story:
I was meeting with the Executive Vice President of a large multi business company. They had a business unit in Florida with continuing labor problems. The unit was union free, but every two years there would be an organizing attempt by a major national union. Two years was up since the last attempt, and another organizing attempt was in the works. The company felt continuing to resist, although expensive and disruptive in the short term, was better than having a union and third party representation of their workers. The business unit was highly successful, hadn't had a layoff in years - in fact, they were in a hiring mode.
The EVP directly responsible for the unit was tempted to throw in the towel and agree to a union, but the CEO was dead set against it.
The EVP wanted to know how I could help turn this around, and avoid an organizing drive.
We went through the checklist of elements that are critical to remaining union free, starting with competitive wages and benefits, a system of due process to handle issues, an equitable system to recognize length of service and a well developed communication process. As we talked he became increasingly impatient, and finally said " We have all that. I'm looking for the one thing - the thing we don't have - that will make this organizing attempt go away. We've tried all kinds of programs and processes, and none have succeeded." I suggested the place to start would be in evaluating the effectiveness of what they were already doing, then go from there. It's possible to have lots of things - but possession and use are two very different things. He didn't like that - he was looking for a new approach - a Silver Bullet. I told him I didn't have any special formula to make his wish come true, and, frankly, I don't believe in the Silver Bullet approach to managing a workforce.

They had an organizing attempt - after an expensive and extensive campaign the company was successful in defeating the attempt, but their profits, quality, shipments and employee relations all suffered because of it.

Moral of the story - Silver Bullets are so rare they're not worth focusing on. Rather than spend time and energy looking for them, take that same time and energy and convert it into solutions that improve on what you already possess and do well.

Successful leaders know accomplishment is built on a solid foundation of good people, good products, good leadership and good practices. Successful leaders know the Program of the Month is a recipe for failure - as one fix after another gets introduced, supported, and then slowly fizzles away, to be replaced by another. All that happens is the people in the business become ever more cynical and resistant to change.

Successful leaders should put a sign on their doors - "No Silver Bullets Welcome." They know the fundamentals need to be in place, excellence needs to be promoted every day, high expectations established, communications constantly improved, performance rewarded and recognized. Out of that comes the strength to grow and prosper. A few things done well beats a constant stream of new initiatives. It's the constant, insistent emphasis on the basics that creates results, and effective change, and improvement. It's the effective execution and implementation of the critical few things done well.

Actually, all the Silver Bullet approach does is to create distractions - they cause you to take your eye off the ball.

Does that mean all the new ideas and programs and processes are without value? Of course not.

The Silver Bullet is most often created in its application. One organization's Silver Bullet is another organization's successful initiative. If the approach is a quick fix for an existing problem it probably won't work - and if it will distract from more substantial work being done, then it's a Silver Bullet.

9 Questions to ask to identify whether an initiative, program, process or change is right for your organization:

Does it build on what we do well?
How will this affect what we are already doing?
What has been our history - have they made a difference - or have they faded away - or have they become imbedded in the organization?
Will this become part of how we operate everyday, or will it have to be treated as an exception, and need regular maintenance and support ?
What do the people to be affected think needs to be done?
Can we measure the effect?
Do we have the resources to see this through to its conclusion?
Will this really affect positive change and results, or are we just staying ahead of accountability and hoping it works?
Is this a survival tactic or part of a growth and improvement strategy?

Every organization is different - every organzation will answer differently, based on their situation, but answering these questions will allow you to see a Silver Bullet for what it is, and act accordingly.

Written by Andy Cox, President

Cox Consulting Group LLC, 4049 E Vista Drive, Phoenix, AZ 85032 Ph: 602-795-4100; Fax: 602-795-4800; E Mail: acox@coxconsultgroup.com; Website: www.coxconsultgroup.com

Copyright 2007 All Rights Reserved

Acceptance, A Powerful Skill For Change

Acceptance is one of those things we rarely think about as a Personal Skill, but it can make a huge difference in our success - in all parts of our life.

A story to illustrate my point:

I'm a fly fisherman. I learned from my uncle -a great guy who only used one kind of fly, had one rod and one reel and was extremely skillful in seeking out and catching trout in mountain streams. I grew up believing there were certain ways to fly fish - especially for trout. As my experience grew, I stuck to what I had been taught by my uncle, and I regarded with suspicion all the changes and new things that had come to the sport after the movie "A River Runs Through It" created a whole new group of fly fishers. In my mind all that had happened was the streams had become more crowded - and with people who didn't share a lot of my values and experience. But then I began to notice that a lot of these people were pretty good - good casters, good flytiers, good knot tiers, and good at catching trout. Gradually, and grudgingly, I came to realize that I was standing still while the sport that I loved was changing and growing. I decided to join in and find out what all this stuff was about. I learned more in one year than I had learned in all my previous 20 years of fly fishing! What a change! What a terrific set of possibilities opened up for me! And it all started with my being willing to accept change in my beliefs and attitudes toward my sport.

That's my story, and I share it to illustrate how acceptance precedes change as a behavior. Without the openness of acceptance there can be little change. If I hadn't accepted the changes and made them my own in fly fishing, I would have missed out on a whole new set of possibilities. I'd still be a fly fisherman, but I would have missed so much!

My fly fishing experience helped me become aware of how many possibilities I was missing by not being more accepting of other people, other ideas, other cultures, other stuff! And I decided I really needed to hear my self talk, start questioning why I do things the way I do, and start listening to others and accepting what they have to say as having as much value as my ideas and thoughts.

It's easy in our lives to "harden up" and become fixed in what we do and say and think - to stay in that comfort zone of what we already know. Except, we really start shrinking a little every day when that happens.

I don't want my world to shrink as I get older. I want it to grow and be bigger and richer and filled with truly interesting and challenging things. The only way I know to have that happen is to become more accepting of things different from me. Not easy - but essential to continuing growth.

The really great thing about acceptance is how it prepares people for inevitable change. When the plant closes, when a career change is required, when a new boss shows up, when a move to a different place to live occurs, the people who have prepared themselves to accept and greet those changes with a positive attitude are the people that will not just survive, but prosper. And with the rate of change increasing all the time, acceptance is really a survival skill, as well as a critical leadership skill.

Make acceptance part of your daily self talk and habits of thought - make it part of goals - make new experiences things to be treasured. You will live a fuller life for it!

Written by Andy Cox, President

Cox Consulting Group LLC, 4049 E Vista Drive, Phoenix, AZ 85032 Ph: 602-795-4100; Fax: 602-795-4800; E Mail: acox@coxconsultgroup.com; Website: www.coxconsultgroup.com

Copyright 2007 All Rights Reserved