The Racism that Resides within us causes the “F” Bomb!

Even in 2009, the beginning of the 21ST century, racism is still prevalent because of a lack of understanding and moral blindness; it has birthed many of society’s ills and significantly fails to appreciate the many differences in the biological and physical characteristics of individuals. It is a cause for wonder.

“Racism is conditioned by economic imperatives, but negotiated through culture: religion, literature, art, science and the media… Once, they demonized the blacks to justify slavery. Then they demonized the “colored” to justify colonialism. Today, they demonize asylum seekers to justify the ways of globalism. And, in the age of the media… demonization sets out the parameters of popular culture within which such exclusion finds its own rationale — usually under the guise of xenophobia, the fear of strangers.” – A Sivanandan, Extracted from Race & Class (Vol. 43, no. 2, October–December 2001).

Racism causes us to speak the four letter “F” word found in our daily language. It is the birthplace of discrimination, separation and segregation, byproducts of a racist mentality due to ignorance. It is a mechanism that allows a roaring emotional state due to remembrance and the verbal expression that commonly articulates surprise, shock and anger when it shows its ugly face. It doesn’t matter the lens that racism is looked through, how it’s filtered to shed reason for its cause or who is right because of circumstance, racism, or its perceived behavioral influence and re-action causes behaviors that are against the values that humanity is designed. And, the convicted parties on all sides demonstrate that all too familiar four letter “F” word that expresses the emotion that everyone has experienced at one time or another in their life – FEAR!

Racism and fear are synonymous of one another, both causing people to feel anxious or apprehensive about a possible or probable situation, circumstance or event. They are used to introduce unpleasant statements or emotions experienced in anticipation of some specific pain, danger and uneasy or apprehensive concern (usually accompanied by a desire to flee or fight). The fear is due to the conviction that the members of one specific group are inherently superior to the members of other groups. This conviction is often manifested by discriminatory behaviors and practices towards the members of the supposed inferior groups.

Now that the lessons for racism have been defined, let’s talk of ways to overcome the fears that ultimately lead to the sword of demise. Yes, the word sword is used because it is often seen as an instrument of death and destruction. But, since we are focusing on bringing a resolution to the forefront of the issues that stem from racism and fear, we can learn from one of the greatest swords in the world, carried by men and women of one of the very best organizations that produces the top leaders on the globe – a premium grade Mameluke Sword and the United States Marine Corps.

Just like our U.S. Marines who always seek improvement, the Mameluke Sword is symbolic of excellence. The blade is already beautifully prepared; the craftsmanship is refined and etched to perfection. When presented to a U.S. Marine Corps officer, the sword consists of absolutely superb castings (the drag on scabbard and the acorns on the hilt) and carries with it a tradition that lives on almost as a mythical legend. The sword represents a certified metaphor of performance, now enlisted to the men and women who are “expected” to perform as the best the world has to offer. To some, the U.S. Marine Corps offers imagery of an organization led by old military commanders seeking to wage battle. This remains largely dubious, especially in today’s increasingly complex, networked world. Rather, they are leaders – men and women, young and old – of all races and endeavors who seek to better themselves and others each day of their life. They love to win, yet they think beyond themselves. They love to compete, yet they show compassion for their fellow human beings. And, they see no race, yet each individual is seen as crossing the right of passage – the rigors, disciplines, decisions, pains and defeats – of becoming the leader who has earned the title “United States Marine.”

A Marine and his/her sword regard with feelings of respect and reverence; consider hallowed or exalted and they are in awe of their own will to win through the efforts of others. They marvel at genius, a feeling of profound respect for someone or the mission they are assigned to accomplish. They too fear that which is not understood, but they carry with them a culture of honor, respect, tradition, resilience, excellence and perfection in performance that overcomes the actual fear that they face. This form of reverence overcomes the destruction that opposes harmony or community, the enslaved misunderstood mindsets that keeps division.

So, why do we fear what is not understood? One wonders. You may recall that as a very young child, you were usually free from fear. You may be swinging at the playground, racing your buddy to see who could go the highest and ready to jump, or about to fuse a firecracker – you aren’t scared and the unknown for the immediate future is also not understood. Can we call it something other than fear, such as bravery? Absolutely not; being unaware of the misunderstood is a means to grasp the opportunity for further education – one that is freed from fear. So, at this very early stage in life, children are guided by their parents, guardians and well-wishers in ways that teaches them to conqueror their fears, only in some cases, fears are placed within them that they do not own – racism. It is at this early stage and time that adults must carry the Mameluke Sword and teach the perfections that will etch the superb castings of our future – the children. And, prepare them through teachings of the Lord: “to love thy neighbor as you would want them to love you.”

We must get back to the basics and principles that have been afforded us by the men and women who have laid the foundations of a great race – humanity – which is unique. Each individual regardless of race or gender is special in a way that teaches others to become a better quality and quantity to life. Most importantly, we must teach our children (and adults who act as children even when they are greatly respected) that humans actually have more in common than not. Even science agrees to this point and it is supported by the Bible. Acts 17:26 (King James Version) declares, “And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation.” This makes us know that all mankind has the same origin, indeed we are one race of human beings. The diversity and uniqueness of both people and nations are manifestations of God’s awesome creativity and power.

But, the battle wages on in us all, regardless of how one feels. The moral blindness of racism fails to appreciate that the differences that we all offer to one another. Do we ever spare a thought about how a child would cope with the unknown or misunderstood? At a time where the United States of America has come together, in the majority – all races and both genders – to elect the first African American President, we still have stories in the media that instructs to our children that we have not grown up to lead by example. It is here that we forget that the child (and again, the adult who acts and speaks as a child) must be taught to deal with and overcome the bullies of life – racism and fear.

We must teach them to carry their own swords as a metaphor of performance. To become the leaders – men and women, young and old – of all races and endeavors, who seek to better themselves and others each day of their life. They must be taught to love to win, yet they think beyond themselves. They must be taught to love to compete, yet show compassion for their fellow human beings. And, they must be taught to see no race, yet “understand” that each individual is seen as special with something to teach and offer to the world.

This my friends is the only way to journey the right of passage – the rigors, disciplines, decisions, pains and defeats – of becoming the people who have truly earned the right to wear the title, a “LEADER.”

Leadership 2.0

I have been following a discussion on LinkedIn about Leadership 2.0 where Janet Monk, IT Executive, ITIL Service Manager hit the nail on the head when she posed her question; “how do we get back to the original design that leadership was meant for?” I believe that in doing so, just as times have changed so must the outlook for the very fabric and defined meaning of leadership itself. I don’t believe that we have to develop Leadership 2.0, but execute a significant “behavioral rewiring” that instills an “us” vs. “I and me” perspective to life and through people. As a U.S. Marine turned business educator, I have always believed that leadership is too one dimensional (probably looked at as Leadership 1.0).

My team and I are currently facing this new paradigm by instructing others on the influences that military stratagem has on the effects of leadership and team building. What we think people need to realize is that leadership is tested in the military/leadership laboratories to define the effects it has on strategic thinking (decision-making) and the ability to execute flawlessly. This perspective and their outcomes offer significant findings and are often overlooked for the absolute wrong reasons – if there is a civilian who has not begun to think of war from a different perspective than war itself, then this current global economic crisis has to make them aware of the effects the current war we are all facing, economically, has on ALL people, everywhere (i.e. The Tragedy of Competition).

Teaching what we have come to realize is only a single step forward in rewiring behaviors, using military stratagem, we’ve come to understand leadership as a multi-dimensional set of influences that achieves a state of Personal Proficiency and Professional Mastery; “The Six Levels of Leadership: Military Stratagem meets the New World Order – of Business!”

Examining the Six Levels of Leadership: Pinpoint the effects of applying an “adaptive” leadership style through an interactive session with lessons learned from yesterday to create a better tomorrow.

Charting-off: Leadership Levels 1 & 2: Establish your Leadership Signature and increase your level of Emotional Intelligence – clarify and critique the attributes of emerging leadership.

Plotting the Course: Leadership Levels 3 & 4: Understand how-to experience a “Breakthrough” to begin your “Break-with” and increase your level of leadership, performance and execution.

Raising the Sails: Leadership Level 5: Learn to lead teams into qualitative team building maneuvers that prevails over the challenge of change at a time that change is definitely required in most organizations – explore expansive influence, leadership multiplication and cohesiveness.

Into the Wind: Leadership Level 6: Learn to employ organizational strategic execution tactics (The OrgSx Paradigm) to permeate enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will – and the disciplines of “strategic agility and flawless execution (debriefing) with a modest approach and an unwavering commitment to higher standards, and NOT forgetting how we got here in the first place…

Success TRAPS: Understanding How-to Answer the Four Questions to Heal the Pains and Strengthen your Future Picture. This discussion works to help participants understand “accountability:” Why am I hurting? What is it about “me” that influences the hurt? How do I prevent re-injury – although I know that it will be re-visited? And, how do I change my circumstances, current and future?

Basically, looking at the last 18 months have been the most trying in decades for business leaders. The conditions that normally make running an organization of any type – a business unit or a team rewarding is market expansion, revenue growth, rising pay, and incentives – have been absent for most, replaced by the unrelenting tasks of survival, retrenchment, and cost cutting. So, it comes down to a single question: “what must leaders do in this depressed environment and what must they do not to return?”

We argue that the first task of leadership is to identify the default future, discuss it, and analyze it, and then go about re-imagining – and, in effect, rewriting the future. It has to be about Flawless and Strategic execution by teams!

Leaders must learn to overcome the daunting task of facing the future alone by teaching them to rewrite the future that leads to real business transformation with profitable growth for everyone, while eliminating the domino effects of failure.

And the lessons must be just as applicable to individuals. Here’s my bottom line, people and organizations have been leading, both poorly and with great outcomes, for centuries. Nothing new and surely nothing unique can be developed to change leadership. Leadership 2.0; why not get back to the original design that leadership was meant for, but look at it through a different lens using the lessons learned from yesterday? Leadership 2.0 does not warrant the time and effort to develop – stay with what works, only with a few tweaks!

Facebook Online Leadership Community

Please join our online community and allow me to welcome you in advance! The purpose of the site is to discuss new and emerging trends within the performance management and human capital/talent management industry, in particular the emergence of our military-style executive education LeaderShaping concepts, including transformational leadership, organizational behavior, strategic execution and team building maneuvers – and their effects on the business, private, Government, faith-based and non-profit leadership communities.

Your colleagues, and the prospects you are targeting, all think much different than they did in the past. How are you adapting to this change? Transformational thinking qualities such as how business is conducted due to social networking (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Etc) have revolutionized the way people interact with each other and gather information. This information could include ways to deal with closing sales, overcoming resistance to change, resolving workplace conflict or even developing better teams to face the climate of uncertainty! These new social media, and others like them which require and thrive on the input of users, are commonly referred to as Web 2.0 platforms – and the world of leadership must also follow suite to remain in front of the technological curve to experience the many benefits shared.

Like Web 2.0, our LeaderShaping concept is not a new version, but rather, as the realization of the global leader’s thinking and decision making potential, it’s second coming (future generation) so to speak.

So, in the spirit of things, please join our online community and you are strongly encouraged to add feedback, photos, video, and start discussion topics on things that are relevant to you and our industry as a whole. Enjoy!

Also, keep in mind we have a LeaderShaping LinkedIn Group, as well:

Our Mission: Develop leadership qualities that instill and promote Personal Proficiency, while increasing Professional Mastery to achieve desired outcomes within life’s Future Picture and the success of the workplace.

The Products: Tips, discussions and white papers for training and increasing both “you” and your “teams” Personal Proficiencies and Professional Mastery in the areas of Transformational Leadership, Organizational Behavior, Strategic Execution, Diversity Education and Team Building Maneuvers to help you with coming out of the economic downturn.

We hope to see you online. Be well and keep your head to the sky.

Contact: Damian D. “Skipper” Pitts
Email: Dpitts@thebisongroup.com
www.thebisongroup.com
www.facebook.com/DDP.Skipper
http://www.linkedin.com/in/skipper
http://bisongroup.blogspot.com

New Bison Group Training site in Philadelphia, PA Targets the Economic Downturn

As business transformation and intelligence needs evolve, Bison will be with them.

PHILADELPHIA, PA (July 20, 2009) – The Bison Group, the leader in military-style executive education, opened a new regional office and training facility this month in the nation’s fourth-largest urban area by population and its fourth-largest consumer media market as ranked by the Nielsen Media Research (Philadelphia proper totals more than 1.4 million and the Greater Philadelphia metropolitan area of 5.8 million residents). Philadelphia is a growing market for “Leading out of the Downturn; the most important task for leaders is to re-orient the minds of the people toward a positive vision of the future,” says consultant and author Damian D. “Skipper” Pitts.

The Greater Philadelphia metropolitan area offers one of the largest concentrations of universities and colleges in the country and has become second to none at offering executive education and innovative approaches for winning over uncertainty.

The last 18 months have been the most trying in decades for business leaders. The conditions that normally make running an organization of any type – a business unit or a team rewarding is market expansion, revenue growth, rising pay, and incentives – have been absent for most, replaced by the unrelenting tasks of survival, retrenchment, and cost cutting. What should leaders do in this depressed environment? The first task of leadership, Bison argues, is to identify the default future, discuss it, and analyze it, and then go about re-imagining – and, in effect, rewriting the future. The Bison Group’s program, “The Six Levels of Leadership,” helps business leaders overcome the daunting task of facing the future, by teaching them to rewrite the future that leads to real business transformation with profitable growth. And the lessons are just as applicable to individuals.

The Bison Group, a team of U.S. Marines turned business professionals, is a leader in military-style executive education and learning services firm for business, education, government, faith-based organizations and higher learning institutions. Bison’s consultancy works to improve the clients’ business performance by redesigning how they behave, think, and train their associates using strategies from the U.S. Marine Corps. It’s the goal of Bison’s teams to implement the rigor and discipline from its training designs, instruct the global marketplace how-to increase their human capital, and increase performance and integrated talent management’s “best practices” to exceed the outcomes within the Future Picture that lie waiting around the immediate corner.

During a recent training with start-up technology firm “PropertyCentric” in Philadelphia, centered on providing custom built local search engines and online marketing strategies for the property management industry, Skipper replied to a question by stating: “some organizations are doing well, but for many, it’s a very tough and nasty battlefield. What happens when people focus on that is that their down range view gets smaller and all they can see is the immediate targets and danger. It’s like they’re a patient in the makeshift battlefield intensive care unit and they’re doing everything they can to get back to their team and unit. But, the question should and “must” be: when you come out of the battlefield ICU, how do you build a strong and healthy Future Picture for yourself and others? Leaders need to be setting in motion transformative execution strategies and principles to follow that really are about the newly emerging future that has never been seen before. What are you going to be, how are you going to act and what will you look like when this turns around? Will you still be standing?”

It was in this city that many of the ideas, and subsequent actions, gave birth to the American Revolution and American Independence, making Philadelphia a centerpiece of early American history. It was the most populous city of the young United States and served as the nation’s first capital during much of the Revolutionary War and thereafter. Following the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, it was the temporary national capital from 1790 to 1800 while Washington, DC was under construction – and, now the home for an even more radical approach to providing leadership and team building maneuvers with the Bison Group to lead out from this downturn with promising outcomes.

Bison’s industry expertise is evidenced by long-term relationships with customers including Wachovia, Lockheed Martin, Wells Fargo, Hilton Hotels, Universal Studios – Florida, Temple University, James Madison University, U.S. Prison Systems and the U.S. Film Industry.

The new office officially opened July 1 and features a training center and attractive meeting space. The facility is located in historic Chestnut Hill, PA – a prime community in the Northwest section of the city. Interested parties can reach the Bison Group team by contacting the office at (877) 838 – 3753.

LeaderShaping your Way out of the Downturn

The power in this program stems from using the Laws of Performance Management combined with the military strategies from the United States Marine Corps. The Laws of Performance Management does not offer a rule or code to follow, but distinguishes the moving parts at work behind defining a process for setting goals and regularly checking progress toward achieving the desired outcomes and effects as observable phenomenon. A law is invariable, a system of rules usually enforced through a process and by institutions. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a primary social mediator in relations between people – whether you believe that the military does more than just fight wars or not doesn’t lessen its effect on you.

The greatest advances in history have come at times of uncertainty and economic despair that called for applying newly discovered laws and strategies. Think of Sir Isaac Newton’s laws of motion. They describe the relationship between the forces acting on a body to the motion of the body. When applied in a business context, they become powerful and predictive. When the Laws of Performance Management combined with the U.S. Marine Corps stratagem are applied, performance and leadership transforms to a higher level of understanding and purpose far beyond what most people think is possible. It does not occur in small subsets, but all at once, as individuals and organizations rewrite their Future Picture.

The opening segment of the program, the “Executive Education” overview, takes the stratagem one at a time, introduces and examines “The Six Levels of Leadership” and demonstrates how to apply them. You’ll pinpoint the effects of applying an “adaptive” leadership style through an interactive session and how to jettison what’s holding you back; create a future for yourself and your organization beyond what’s predictably going to happen. Along the way, you’ll likely see and transform much of what is holding you back (behaviors and values), both personally and professionally.

Through the journey of the opening segment, we’ll show how “The Six Levels of Leadership” will hold true, in any circumstance individuals and organizations may face – they are universal principles that will win at any time and in any scenario type. We’ll see the result of understanding and applying them – dramatic elevations in performance that can be used to lead you out of a downturn and re-orient the minds of staff and employees toward a positive vision of the future.

The second part, “Charting-off: Leadership Levels 1 & 2,” is about the personal face of leadership. This session shows how you can apply the stratagem – and in the process expand your own leadership. Charting-off is about taking the long walk down the short path to increase your level of Personal Proficiency and provides some guidance on how to take these new ideas out into your world. Charting-off establishes your Leadership Signature and increases your level of Emotional Intelligence – clarifying and critiquing the attributes of emerging and adaptive leadership. It looks at leadership in light of the Laws of Performance Management.

This segment identifies key leadership behaviors and value propositions, and how to apply them in and across organizational environments and workplaces. We also look at the new frontier of organizational behavior: working effectively in the emerging and developing world, creating sustainability in communities and generating the expansion of wealth (both material and in the well-being of people). This segment is intended for people interested in becoming an agent of change, raising their levels of individual and professional leadership.

The third part, “Plotting the Course: Leadership Levels 3 & 4,” helps you with understanding how-to experience a “Breakthrough” to begin your “Break-with” and increases your level of leadership, performance and execution all with the same amount of energy. We’ll visit national and international organizations through third party white papers, looking into diverse industries such as aerospace, energy, construction, and technology. We’ll even make stops at top U.S. conglomerates, the Wharton School of Business, Harvard Business School, Darden School of Business and other institutions.

The fourth part, “Raising the Sails: Leadership Level 5,” helps you with learning to lead teams into qualitative team building maneuvers that prevails over the challenge of change at a time that change is definitely required in most organizations. It explores expansive influence, leadership multiplication and cohesiveness.

The fifth part, “Into the Wind: Leadership Level 6,” helps you with learning to employ organizational strategic execution tactics (The OrgSx Paradigm) that permeates enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will – and the disciplines of “strategic agility and flawless execution (debriefing) with a modest approach and an unwavering commitment to higher standards – individually and organizationally.

“The Six Levels of Leadership” is the stimulus to initiate and maintain the behavioral and emotional relationships necessary to develop the leadership traits needed to successfully contest rapid change: an interactive investigation that takes you on a journey to increase Personal Proficiency that leads to greater levels of Professional Mastery and respect. You’ll learn from one of our Master Facilitators how to lead at both the head and heart levels – from any position within your organization.

Based on the content of nationally-acclaimed leadership and team building expert, facilitator, and author Damian D. “Skipper” Pitts, the Six Levels equips you with the tools and knowledge to become the leader “you,” “your team” and “your organization” requires: The LeaderShaped Leader! Additionally, with the daunting outlook and uncertainties in the current economic climate, participants are able to examine the newest features of the program, “Success TRAPS: Understanding How-to Answer the Four Questions to Heal the Pains and Strengthen your Future Picture.” This segment works to help participants understand: Why am I hurting? What is it about “me” that influences the hurt? How do I prevent re-injury – although I know that it will be re-visited? And, how do I change my circumstances, current and future?

With a dedicated perspective, participants are able to navigate through various steps to ensure they follow the right path for the greatest benefit. Learning to transform into a LeaderShaped Leader, you’ll be able to transition top leadership, project management, execution and team building performance – all encompassed within the stratagem – the Laws of Performance Management combined with the military strategies from the United States Marine Corps. This program delivers the required skills so that you can execute and more effectively communicate to gain more retention from the people influenced by your leadership.

This program is not an academic study, although its conclusions draw on well-established lines of research. Our intent is to introduce these principles and illustrate how their application can enhance performance. The examples almost all come from cases in which we and our colleagues have been personally involved – and in some cases, from third party relationships such as Booz & Company, Bersin and Associates and others in the field of leadership, strategic execution, team building and performance research. We’ve been there, seen it and now we want to share it.

In attending this program and reading the materials, journals and publications – and applying the stratagem – you’ll do more than find fixes to your problems and challenges. You’ll find the power to rewrite your future.

For additional information, please contact:
Damian D. “Skipper” Pitts, Instructor,
The Bison Group® Corporation
Toll Free: (877) 838 – 3753
Email: Dpitts@thebisongroup.com
www.thebisongroup.com
www.teambuildingbootcamp.com

6 Levels of Leadership City Tour

“Setting an example is not the main means of influencing another, it is the only means.” – Albert Einstein

In our exploration of leading in uncharted territory, we dare to share a simple principle: Use discipline and rigor while remaining strategic and nimble in answering the following:

- What kind of influence do you have in the workplace?
- Do people understand what it takes to move performance to the next level?
- Do they understand how to follow when led…and, how to lead when others must follow?
- Do they know how to execute strategically and flawlessly?

Let The Bison Group stimulate your ability to impact your workplace. The Six Levels of Leadership, also known as “The LeaderShaped Leader,” helps you to consider Key Talent Management Processes that drive high levels of business impact. The business world had to realize that their potential leaders are a major asset – and do so rather quickly. Taking that potential and developing it is highly desirable, especially during an economic downturn, downsizing, mergers and acquisitions, and layoffs.

The Process of LeaderShaping is the stimulus to initiate and maintain the behavioral and emotional relationships necessary to develop the leadership traits needed to successfully contest rapid change: an interactive investigation that takes you on a journey to increase Personal Proficiency that leads to greater levels of Professional Mastery and respect. Learn from one of our Master Facilitators how to lead at both the head and heart levels – from any position within your organization.

Based on the content of nationally-acclaimed leadership and team building expert, facilitator, and author Damian D. “Skipper” Pitts, the Six Levels equips you with the tools and knowledge to become the leader your team and your organization requires: The LeaderShaped Leader!

With a dedicated perspective, participants are able to navigate through various steps to ensure they follow the right path for the greatest benefit. Learning to transform into a LeaderShaped Leader, you’ll be able to transition top leadership, project management, execution and team building performance skills so that you can execute and more effectively communicate to gain more retention from the people influenced by your leadership.

Upcoming Dates and Locations

September 9, 2009 Philadelphia, PA
September 16, 2009 Cherry Hill, NJ
September 23, 2009 New York City, NY
September 30, 2009 Wilmington, DE

Materials

Too many corporate training experiences hand out little more than catchy clichés and cheerleading slogans. At The Bison Group, we value motivation and encouragement, but we also believe in the long-lasting impact of practical tools and resources.

Our in-depth, classroom style symposium provides you with an accurate picture of your present leadership position. During the day, you’ll capture the essence of the Six Levels of Leadership in the course workbook. In addition, certified facilitators will help you craft a customized Strategic Performance Management Action Plan (SPMAP) with tangible steps to guide your leadership to new heights.

Rates

Individual Fees: $499.00
* Prices include attendance at each session, course materials, and lunch.

What You Will Learn

Through a day of highly personalized and experiential learning, you will:

- Learn the difference between dynamic leadership and mediocre management,
- Examine applicable leadership case studies,
- Apply a series of simple principles and strategies to empower your team, and
- Chart your leadership course with a personalized SPMAP (Strategic Performance Management Action Plan) that finds your leadership voice.

Agenda

Six Levels of Leadership One-Day Workshop
8:00 am – 4:45 pm

Module I - Examining the Six Levels of Leadership
Pinpoint the effects of applying an “adaptive” leadership style through an interactive session

Module II – Charting-off: Leadership Levels 1 & 2
Establish your Leadership Signature and increase your level of Emotional Intelligence – clarify and critique the attributes of emerging leadership

Module III – Plotting the Course: Leadership Levels 3 & 4
Understand how-to experience a “Breakthrough” to begin your “Break-with” and increase your level of leadership, performance and execution

Module IV – Raising the Sails: Leadership Level 5
Learn to lead teams into qualitative team building maneuvers that prevails over the challenge of change at a time that change is definitely required in most organizations – explore expansive influence, leadership multiplication and cohesiveness

Module V – Into the Wind: Leadership Level 6
Learn to employ organizational strategic execution tactics (The OrgSx Paradigm) to permeate enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will – and the disciplines of “strategic agility and flawless execution (debriefing) with a modest approach and an unwavering commitment to higher standards

Seats are limited, so register today by email at:

Solutions@thebisongroup.com
www.thebisongroup.com
www.teambuildingbootcamp.com

Factors that Drive Positive Impact & ROI for Executive Leadership Programs

While sitting at a local coffee shop enjoying the company of two business colleagues, a significant question was posed that caused time to stop for a brief moment: “Skipper, how does your organization measure leadership ROI in plain language for an executive to understand when considering hiring your team?” Wow I thought… do I answer in my normal corporate language and attempt to impress upon that we really are good at what we do? Or, maybe I throw around a few $20 words and some leadership jargon to sound important. Either way, I must answer the question with an assumed definition as if I was actually seasoned to field the question with absolute and unquestionable resolve. “I don’t know…I’ve never actually had anyone ask that question before now,” I replied. What a moment of agony while sitting at the table with two very successful and respected businessmen with polished academic backgrounds, including a mid 1980’s graduate of the Wharton School of Business, both retired and now successfully working on their next ventures. The pressure of just wanting to receive an endorsement from either of them to a colleague of theirs in hopes of that person is willing to accept a meeting from me to present our perfected elevator pitch: “this is why you should use us.”

The remainder of the evening and much of the next day, I researched why and how to answer the question in the future. With the many uncertainties in the “NOW” real-world that business is forced to coexist, this is a question that will most likely show its face again and again. “I must be better prepared to answer it with profound implications that will impress upon our experiential learning from the participants in our past session,” I thought. But, the real skinny on this new found dilemma that I am faced with is this: I too must “again” reinvest in my own development and learning.

It is my hopes that this article can help others who might be sitting at a similar table having coffee in the same dilemma. In my research and looking at Scott Saslow’s writings, the Executive Director of The Institute of Executive Development, a significant high number of people “Rarely” or “Never” calculate the ROI on executive development (take a look at the table below, from market study Leadership Development: Challenges & Best Practices).

Although there are several factors that lead to reasons for tracking the impact of executive development leadership and team building programs such as those delivered from our team, it is very important to do so in plain language for others to grasp the concept of the programs intention. In answering the question for our programs, I am not only looking to monitor the impact, I am also interested in expressing a thorough examination of developmental activity along with the benefits and cost to deploy across the entire organizational environment.

According to Saslow, “conventional wisdom on any corporate spending, executive development investments need to be fully understood and ranked against other company projects to ensure proper allocation of scarce organizational resources.” This is so true in the current economic climate. No organization can take a leap of faith to engage any form of human capital training without knowing that their current needs are being met and pains are being cared for.

There are a few factors that drive the need to track program and developmental investments:

 Increased accountability for all functional areas within the organization, driven by initiatives such as “Balanced Scorecard, Six Sigma, et al” and other process improvement programs. In areas such as training and development, which are known to produce a mix of tangible and intangible benefits, there is an increased desire by senior management to measure performance management outcomes and desired effects.

 Increased awareness by both executive management as well as HRD professionals on the availability of tools and techniques to quantify impact of executive development programs.

 A visible increase in Human Resource Development (HRD) professionals who view their departments as stand-alone business units/revenue centers and are utilizing department profit and loss statements as one measure of performance. Increasingly, professionals from non-HR departments have figured out the many benefits of joining HR teams to bring “bottom-line” perspective to human capital investments.

The following ¹information explains the results from the question relating to organizations that attempt to calculate ROI on executive development:

10% – Always: Each program is evaluated independently,
7% – Frequently: Most of our programs are evaluated,
15% – Sometimes: As appropriate, we will evaluate some of our programs,
21% – Rarely: Only a small number of programs are evaluated, and
46% – Never: We never measure ROI for leadership development.

¹From “Leadership Development: Challenges & Best Practices,” www.execsight.com/benchmarks.

Business Benefits and ROI Assumptions for The Process of LeaderShaping Executive Education Leadership and Organizational Behavior Program

The business world has quickly realized that their very best people, leaders and organizational specialists, are the greatest asset. Taking that potential and developing it is highly desirable. The Process of LeaderShaping, a transformational leadership and organizational behavior program that focuses on team building and strategic execution, is the stimulus to initiate and maintain the behavioral and emotional relationships necessary to develop leadership traits at every level of an organization.

With a dedicated perspective, participants are able to navigate through various steps six phases/stages to ensure they follow the right path for the greatest individual benefit – achieve Personal Proficiency – while attaining a greater level of Professional Mastery. LeaderShaping transforms top leaders to be more effective in their communication and more strategic in their execution. Regardless of circumstance, LeaderShaping takes every participant on their very own personal journey to explore their inner “self” while influencing others to find their voice. The journey explores the following six developmental stages:

Stage 1 is the “Recruit, the good-to-great highly capable individual who makes productive contributions through talent, knowledge, skills and good work habits. This individual is the one person in the environment that understands ‘people first, then the organization;’ hence, the development and achievement of the desired effects within the expected Future Picture.”

Stage 2 is the Experienced Manager “who is working to establish his/her ‘Leadership Signature’ to integrate their newly found skills to the achievement of team and organizational objectives (mission) and work effectively with others in a team-led environment. The Experienced Manager begins his/her growth by learning the constructs in the Memorandum of Understanding to find a voice; then, influences others to find theirs.”

Stage 3 is the competent Fleet Leader who “understands the criticality of employing organizational behavior across environments – organizes people and resources to develop an effective strategy forward using the critical Centers of Gravity to achieve the desired effects.”

Stage 4 is an effective Breakthrough Executor who “outlines the specific cognitive abilities that will be sought and cultivated by other leaders in the years ahead using the Five Minds for the Future: the disciplined mind, the synthesizing mind, the creating mind, the respectful mind, and the ethical mind; the leader who remains committed to a vigorous pursuit of a clear and compelling vision, stimulating higher performance standards using team maneuvers."

Stage 5 is the Team/Project Leader who “employs the highest standards of customer service by achieving the five disciplines of greatness – these are the leaders who understand maneuver warfare and the disciplines within a Five Paragraph Order: SMEAC. They know an extraordinary organization is one that is driven by extraordinary people who make a distinctive impact and deliver superior performance over a long period of time – as a team unit.”

Stage 6 is the LeaderShaped Leader “who employs organizational strategic execution tactics (The OrgSx Paradigm) to permeate enduring greatness through a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will. All successful organizations have a single component in common; they have a strategic-executor at the helm who knows the disciplines of ‘strategic agility’ and ‘flawless execution.’ These leaders are described as being tactical in their approach, ferocious and fearless, yet modest with an unwavering commitment to high standards.” This is the leader who knows how to win!

LeaderShaping helps people to consider key talent management processes that drive high levels of business impact:

Performance Management
• Coaching and development drives much greater value than appraisal.
• Goal setting and goal-alignment drive high levels of impact.

Competency Analyses
• Skills-based workforce planning and critical job analysis is imperative to succeed.
• Competency management is a foundational process to make talent management work.

Assessments & Recruiting
• Assessment metrics and recruiting are key strategies and replace decentralized recruiting.
• Internal sourcing tools drive greater value than improvements in external sourcing.

Learning & Development
• Alignment with talent gaps is biggest area of impact.
• Tremendous growth in career development programs.

Based on interviews within our executive education program participants at Temple University since 2007, these four key elements were identified, which positively had an impact on the participants and their organizations upon returning to their perspective workplaces. Nonetheless, the environment (culture and organizational behavior) and the organizations processes received the greatest impact with staggering results.

Regardless of ROI, it is important to understand that no matter what measures are placed on the program itself, or what name the initiative goes under (team-based improvement effort, continuous improvement, total quality management, lean manufacturing, Human Sigma, or self-directed work teams) you must strive to improve results for internal and external customers. Few organizations and leaders, however, are totally pleased with the results their team improvement efforts produce because of the limited shelf life and excitement the program itself warrants upon completion (how often are the materials from the visiting program “never” shared with others and, in most cases, only become a part of the office library never to be looked at again?).

Here are a few things to consider when measuring if the program drives positive impact that is poised for the ROI you are seeking. The “twelve Cs for effective unit development,” (let’s get it straight, the only reason to engage a specific program is to institutionalize its effects across every level of the organization) offers successful maneuvers that develop effective, focused impacts that require attention to detail in the following areas.

It is important to think about the many questions posed to ensure the appropriate discussions are stimulating directional flow towards the organization’s success – if to measure ROI appropriately:

1. Clear Expectations: Has executive leadership (to be successful, there must be buy-in from the top) clearly communicated its expectations for the team’s performance and expected outcomes? Do team members understand why the team was created? Is the organization demonstrating consistency of purpose in supporting the team with resources of people, time and money? Does the work of the team receive sufficient emphasis as a priority in terms of the time, discussion, attention and interest directed its way by executive leaders?

2. Context: Do team members understand why they are participating on the team? Do they understand how the strategy of using teams will help the organization attain its communicated business goals? Can team members define their team’s importance to the accomplishment of goal orientation? Does the team understand where its work fits in the total context of the organization’s goals, principles, posture, vision, organizational behavior and values?

3. Commitment: Do team members want to participate on the team? Do team members feel the team mission is important? Are members committed to accomplishing the team mission and expected outcomes? Do team members perceive their service as valuable to the organization and to their own careers – is there a “win-win?” Do team members anticipate recognition for their contributions? Do team members expect their skills to grow and develop on the team? Are team members excited and challenged by the team opportunity?

4. Competence: Does the team feel that it has the appropriate people participating? (As an example, in a process improvement initiative, is each step of the process represented on the team?) Does the team feel that its members have the knowledge, skill and capability to address the issues for which the team was formed? If not, does the team have access to the help it needs? Does the team feel it has the resources, strategies and support needed to accomplish its mission/objectives and future picture?

5. Contract: Has the team taken its assigned area of responsibility and designed its own mission, vision, posture statement, Memorandum of Understanding and strategic intent to accomplish the mission. Has the team defined and communicated its goals; its anticipated outcomes and contributions; its timelines; and how it will measure both the outcomes of its work and the process the team followed to accomplish their task? Does the leadership team or other coordinating group support what the team has designed?

6. Command and Control: This can be defined as the exercise of authority and direction by a properly designated team leader or members on a team over assigned and attached resources in the accomplishment of the organization’s mission. That being said, does the team have enough freedom and empowerment to feel the ownership necessary to accomplish its contract? At the same time, do team members clearly understand their boundaries? How far may members go in pursuit of solutions? Are limitations (i.e. monetary and time resources) defined at the beginning of a project before the team experiences barriers and rework? Is the team’s reporting relationship and accountability understood by all members of the organization? Has the organization defined the team’s authority? To make recommendations? To implement its plan? Is there a defined review process so both the team and the organization are consistently aligned in direction and purpose? Do team members hold each other accountable for project timelines, commitments and results? Does the organization have a plan to increase opportunities for self-management among organization members?

7. Collaboration (Coalition of Forces): Does the team understand team and group process? Do members understand the stages of group development? Are team members working together effectively interpersonally? Do all team members understand the roles and responsibilities of team members (Concept of the “Bus”)? Team leaders? Can the team approach problem solving, process improvement, goal setting and measurement jointly? Do team members cooperate to accomplish the team contract? Has the team established group norms or rules of conduct in areas such as LeaderShaping, conflict resolution, consensus decision making and meeting management? Is the team using an appropriate strategy to accomplish its action plan?

8. Communication: Are team members clear about the priority of their tasks? Is there an established method for the teams to give feedback and receive honest performance feedback? Does the organization provide important business information regularly? Do the teams understand the complete context for their existence? Do team members communicate clearly and honestly with each other? Do team members bring diverse opinions to the table? Are necessary conflicts raised and addressed? Do team members understand that conflict is necessary for lessons learned?

9. Creative Innovation: Is the organization really interested in change? Does it understand the contextual implications for the change? Does it value creative thinking, transformational thinking, unique solutions and new ideation? Does it reward people who take reasonable risks to make improvements? Or does it reward the people who fit in and maintain the status quo? Does it provide the training, education, access to publications and textual resources, performance management assessments and infield trips necessary to stimulate new thinking?

10. Consequences: Do team members feel responsible and accountable for team achievements? Do team members feel responsible and accountable for other team members? Are rewards and recognition supplied when teams are successful? Not successful? Is reasonable risk respected and encouraged in the organization? Do team members fear reprisal? Do team members spend their time finger pointing rather than resolving problems during the necessary Debrief sessions? Is the organization designing reward systems that recognize both team and individual performance and organizational behavior? Is the organization planning to share gains and increased profitability with team and individual contributors? Do team members feel responsible and accountable for team and individual strategic execution tactics? Can contributors see their impact on increased organization success?

11. Coordination: Are teams coordinated by a central leadership team that assists the groups to obtain what they need for success? Are teams coordinated by a designated “Red Team,” one who works to employ contingency script that assists the team with working out problems and challenges as a precursor to engaging the mission? Have priorities and resource allocation been planned across departments? Have the proper configurations or reconfigurations been made and planned for across departments? Do teams understand the concept of the internal customer – the next process, anyone to whom they provide a product or a service? Are cross-functional and multi-department teams common and working together effectively and efficiently? Is the organization developing a customer-focused process-centric orientation and moving away from traditional departmental thinking?

12. Cultural Change – Collective Behaviors: Does the organization recognize that the team-based, collaborative, empowering, enabling organizational culture of the future is different than the traditional, hierarchical organization it may currently be? Is the team a networked unit or hierarchical one? Is the organization planning to or in the process of changing how it rewards, recognizes, appraises, hires, develops, plans with, motivates and manages the people it employs? Does the organization plan to use failures for learning and support reasonable risk? Does the organization recognize that the more it can change its climate to support teams, the more it will receive in pay back (ROI) from the work of the teams?

Spend time and attention on each of these “twelve Cs for effective unit development” to ensure your work teams contribute most effectively to your business success after completing an executive education program. In a position of leadership, your team members will respond favorably, your business will soar to new heights and empowered people will “own” and be responsible for their work processes. Everyone will find his/her voice – this is ROI that permeates enduring freedoms (breakthroughs) and successful outcomes that lasts.

Can you ask for anything better in the workplace than what is proposed here? There's a table of critical information to support this segment of the article that you can request by email at Solutions@thebisongroup.com (In your headline, remember to include the title of the article and request the "best practices" table).

The table outlines “best practices” in measuring and maximizing ROI in executive education and development programs like The Process of LeaderShaping. No more will I have to agonize on the original question posed that sparked me writing this article. The factors that drive positive impact & ROI for executive style leadership programs lie in the hands of the participants going through it and their response to the instruction upon entering back into the workplace.

So, measuring ROI begins in the decision and selection process of the individuals chosen to attend. Everything else is a culmination of everyone doing their part to ensure successful outcomes within the desired effects in the end.

Reference
Shortcut the original article:
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Scott Saslow is the Executive Director of The Institute of Executive Development, a company that delivers a unique service to executive development professionals by providing an unbiased source of information on the best practices and innovative ideas in executive development. Clients of The Institute include professionals from global companies who manage their organization’s executive development programs, as well as recognized experts who advise, publish, and speak on industry topics. The Institute is the largest in its field and most dynamic in terms of its services. There are currently over 4,000 individuals from 85 countries who use the Institute. As head of the organization, Mr. Saslow is responsible for all strategy and operations. Mr. Saslow also manages the design and delivery of multiple market studies in executive development such as “Transforming Corporate Leadership: Best Practices in Executive Education” and “Leadership Development in European Organizations.” In all, Mr. Saslow has authored over 15 articles and in-depth research reports on the field of executive development for publications such as CLO Magazine, Strategic HR Review, Leadership in Action, and ASTD’s Leadership/OD Newsletter.

Team Building Maneuvers and the Team’s Leadership

Conquering the Challenge of “Change” through Team Building Maneuvers

Leading teams into qualitative team building maneuvers prevails over the challenge of change at a time that change is definitely required in most organizations. In order to experience successful change, the “fear to change” must be addressed. Change is the one constant when uncertainty shows itself in life and change undoes the way process is both managed and executed. Change is natural and good, but people’s reaction to change is both unpredictable and irrational. It can be managed if done right – but when reacting to the uncertainties exhibited by the stimulus for change, mistakes are made and can be very costly. Managing the process that leads to change means managing people’s fear.

Nothing is as upsetting to your people as change. Nothing has greater potential to cause failures, loss of production or failing quality. Yet nothing is as important to the survival of your organization as your people and their response to change.

Research tells us that 70 percent of all change initiatives fail (Source: Author Peter Senge, “The Dance of Change,” Doubleday Press, Toronto, Ont. 1999, p. 3-4). Beyond a doubt, the likelihood of your change initiative failing is overwhelming. Since 2004, I’ve studied, facilitated and taught change processes and experience tells me that change efforts fail for one, two, or all of the following three reasons:

1. Failure to properly define the Future Picture and the impact of the change.
All too often, the “change” initiative addresses the symptoms of current challenges and problems rather than the future the organization wants or needs to create. Change is about creating a desired future, not just correcting current problem/symptoms.

2. Failure to properly assess the current situation, in order to determine the scope within the requirements for change.
Organizations perpetually assess the current situation against current measures of performance. However, change is not the same as problem-solving or project management. Rather, managing change is about moving an organization strategically forward to achieve its vision of the future.

3. Failure to effectively manage the transition of moving from the present to the future.
Experience demonstrates that failure to effectively manage the transition/transformation need is the leading cause of failure for strategic change initiatives. The change itself is not the problem. Change is an event; it is situational: deciding to implement a new system, target a new market, acquire or merge two organizational cultures (Source: Author William Bridges, “Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change,” Addison Wesley, Don Mills Ont., p.3). The problem occurs with what happens within the gap between the present and future, after the “change” and before you get to “there.” The reality of change is that change is about people not structures – people are the reasons for stop gaps in change initiatives!

Failure to successfully execute often comes from seeing the change as solely structural, so once the new system is designed and ready for implementation, the new organization is agreed upon and the doctrine papers are signed to legalize the “deal,” everyone, including the CEO, walks away from what is considered (prematurely) a “done deal.” This is a mistake that goes on all too often like a broken record. History is full of examples of organizations and teams that failed when experiencing changing environments (most of them are now extinct). The secret to successfully managing change, from the perspective of the people within the organization and their teams, is “definition” and “understanding.”

To make it clear, I’ll explain them in subsets.

Definition and Understanding for the “WHAT” in Teams

It is important to understand that not everyone who works together or in close proximity is a member of a team. This concept is a misnomer for a lot of people. A clear explanation of a team is a group of individuals who are interdependent with respect to intelligence, information, transferable skill sets, resources, and tools and who seek to combine their efforts to achieve a shared-vision towards a common goal. A team, for instance, is either building or falling apart. An essential aptitude for true team building and the maneuvers they require is leading the team into building on a continuous basis. Team building maneuvers lead a group into higher levels of team spirit, cooperation and interpersonal communication. Building teams is the process of developing on the team-dynamics and interpersonal relationship of the people that come together to make-up the unit. Team spirit either grows or it dies based on the dynamics of the unit.

Teams have specific characteristics that should be addressed:

- Teams must be constructed to achieve a shared-vision for a shared goal.

- Team associates are interdependent regarding some common interests; teams are the instrument of sustained and enduring success in leadership and management.

- Teams use strategic thinking, acting, and influence – associates each possess the authority to manage their own stimulus for change.

- A team is a type of group, but not all groups are teams – team leaders know this to be true.

- Teams are formed to best facilitate learning and peak performance while operating in a socialist environment.

- Team associates are not responsible to “self,” but to their team and its mission; their obligation is to guide the unit to find its voice, while strategically and flawlessly executing.

- Teams learn to navigate positive transition to disseminate authority and power for change – and, they understand when it is a “must” to move into greater levels of performance (the difference between ordinary and extraordinary high performance teams).

The difference between ordinary teams and high performance teams are its people and their abilities to overcome the fear of change. High performance teams place a focus on the people who drive the overall performance within the system: “how do you define a high-performance team?” A high performance team is a group of people who are led by an exception leader, ALL having complementary skills, who understand roles and goals, and who are committed to achieving those goals through a shared-voice, as one unit or body, to demonstrate strategic and flawless execution measures for overcoming changing environments.

This team format learns quickly how-to work together toward mutual goals using their individual skills to support one another regardless of the situation they are engaging or any amount of resistance to change from a fear of the unknown or an expectation of loss or failure.

The “alpha” of the high performance team’s resistance to change is how they perceive the change. The “omega” is how well they are equipped to deal with the change they expect. The team member’s degree of resistance is determined by whether they perceive the change as good or bad, and how they expect the impact of the change to be on the entire unit. Their ultimate acceptance of the change is a function of how much resistance the team member has and the quality of their coping skills and their support system. The job role of the team leader is to address their resistance from both perspectives by helping each member reduce it to a minimal, manageable process level. The success of the response depends on the leader’s ability to lead by example, their level of trust from the members on the team and their ability to persuade the members to overcome their resistance so the unit can move ahead. When the leader is able to communicate a low threat level and/or limited risk, the member’s perception will be one of trust for engaging the objective. Simply, it will all come down to the leader’s relationship with the team; hence, the success of the team not only depends on its members, but also on the leadership they follow.

Definition and Understanding for Accepting “CHANGE” on Teams and Organizations

Now, we’ll look at how teams can manage change and fear, and overcome them both to perform at its peak as a unit, and pronounce its leadership style to permeate peak performance across an entire organization. The “alpha” here begins by looking at change as an emotions state that is synonymous with fear. Fear stipulates an uncomfortable emotional response to potential threats and a way of life. It is a basic survival mechanism that occurs in response to specific stimulus of future events, such as worsening of a situation or continuation of a situation that is unacceptable. It needs to be addressed by the leadership personnel in as much detail and as early as possible. Leadership must be able to provide updates as things develop and become clearer if any chance is possible for overcoming the fears that are the precursor for change.

“Definition” is a two-way street. In addition to defining a problem that causes fear, team leaders need to get their members to a point that they feel comfortable defining the reasons behind their resistance. “Understanding,” the “omega” here is also a two-way street. Team leaders must be prepared to clearly explain to their members what is changing and why. They must also be clear about the member’s reluctance. Here are a few things that the team leaders must be aware of:

- Team leaders must not try to rationalize the issues, but focus on opening and maintaining clear channels of communication with their team members so they understand what is coming and what it means to them and the unit.

- Team leaders must be able to help their member gain a comprehensive understanding of the situation at hand, both the positives and negatives.

- Team leaders must inform their members what the change will be, when it will happen and why – what is not changing and how the anchors on the team (the characteristics, such as “trust” that holds the team together) will be affected as they face the winds of uncertainty and change.

- Team leaders must be able to understand the specific fears of each member. What their concerns are and how strongly they feel about the potential outcomes, both the positives and negatives (do they perceive it as a good or a bad thing?).

The Bottom Line: Definition and Understanding

Conquering the challenge of “change” through team building maneuvers requires innovation, creativity and some good old fashion “leadership.” People yearn for ideas (big and small ones) and think that if they just had that one “right” idea for the team or organization, success would surely come. Certainly, we can all do things to be more creative, but having ideas isn’t the biggest, or even first, source of our challenges.

Think about it this way. You’ve experienced what is believed by you to be the greatest workshop ever attended, so you go back to the workplace to integrate what you’ve learned – only, you never do. You’ve thought about trying a new approach to your meetings, but never did. You’ve had a great idea that never went anywhere. You’ve had an idea for a new process, but failed to introduce it to other the leaders. The list can go on and on and you’ll see that there’s no shortage of ideas or creativity that is stopping you. What is stopping you is fear, the fear of change or the fear of failure. Either way you look at it, fear is the stimulus that stops great people from doing great things – the action that is required for successful progress in life and in the workplace.

Change and Failure (Breakdown)

Failure and success are the outcomes of change. No matter how you look at them both, they each have a constant that cannot go unnoticed, “leadership.” We cannot succeed at higher levels of performance if we maintain status quo, but inherent in change is the possibility that we might fail or experience a breakdown in process. So any discussion of the “fear of change” or the “fear of failure” needs to start with a discussion on transition and transformation. While there are downsides and risks involved in change (including the risk of failure) think of all of the positives that can come from change:

 Process Improvement to Leadership and Management,
 Overall Employee Performance Increases,
 Team Development, Transition and Transformation,
 Greater Satisfaction (Individual) – Personal Proficiency,
 Organizational Renewal – Professional Mastery, and
 Marketplace Expansion, and much more.

And these are just a few. The next time you feel the fear of failure, think about how you feel about change and how it impacts your level of fear. All change involves a certain amount of uncertainty and ambiguity and those two conditions provoke anxiety. This is a reason to hold onto the past for lessons learned; it’s familiar, and as the adage goes, “better what you know versus whet you don’t know.” So, although change has the ability to promote new systems, structures, organizations and teams, people will always conform to the “same old~same old,” unwilling to let go of the past. That is why looking at the positives and keeping an open mind is so critical to the success of experiencing change.

Structuring Failure and Success (Breakthrough)

One individual’s failure is another individual’s success; it’s all based on a decision that “must” be made at some point. Sun Tzu, arguably the greatest military strategist that many still follow, had his say on success and failure: “Consideration and analysis of The Five Elements, “Dao” – Moral Unity, “Tian” – Weather Condition, “Di” – Geographical Condition, “Jiang” – Leadership Quality, “Fa” – Discipline and Organization Structure, a must know for all commanders. Victory to those who understand and no victory to those who does not. The Five Elements will determine success or failure of conducting war.”

Here’s an explanation of Sun Tzu’s statement through comparison and an analytical lens. The Five Elements will reveal the factors of success and failure of all battle, namely: Moral Unity, Weather Condition, Geographical Condition, Leadership Quality, Discipline and Organization Structure.

Moral Unity determines the cohesiveness between the ruler and his subjects, the leader and his followers, the general and his soldiers. Ultimately, to achieve full support by fellowman, putting aside life and death matters and share the view of the ruler’s is the goal of Moral Unity. Only when a view or decision is fully supported, can orders be carried out smoothly by the team.

Weather Condition such as summer/winter and drought/flood will have significant affects on how plans are executed. When weather is an element that no one has any control, the best strategy will be take full advantage of the conditions when able. Going against the force of nature may prove rewarding when one overcomes, but it usually spells destruction.

Geographical Condition here refers to distance of near/far, terrain/mountainous/flat regarding the battle space, wide/narrow the battle field and whether the location chosen to engage the battle favors attack/defense. This will limit the size, type and performance of the troop. The same for business – this will also determine the team’s reaction to the mission and the amount of resources – people, process and management of initiative that will be required to win.

Leadership Quality (my favorite) concerns the general/commander’s leading capability. There are five qualities of a good leader: “wisdom, trustworthiness, benevolence and deportment, courage (both physical and emotional) and sternness (temperament).” These five qualities will affect the leading capability of a commander, his culture and climate for organizational behavior effectiveness within the environment and the efficacy and value of his command being carried out by the people under his leadership.

Discipline and Organization Structure is the system of open communication and the vehicles used to do so – how each level within the organization manages and leads the people and process, including logistics. It requires a fair, consistent and clear communication to everyone. Communication is the greatest resource in all of life, not only in organizations, but in all we set out to accomplish. Effective communications is leadership’s greatest tool to win its people, systems, processes and management of functions.

As The Five Elements are inter-related, no leader can either ignore or fail to understand the constructive/destructive nature of each element. Victory will overcome “failure” and “success” will fall upon those who analyze and clearly understand The Five Elements. Therefore, by asking who offers fairest reward and punishment, whose troop, team or organization is best trained and led, whose equipment and resources are more efficient and plentiful, who can deliver and communicate order/leadership smoothly, effectively and thoroughly, who has better geographical/weather advantages (culture and organizational climate), who has more resourceful leaders and followers – teams, whether the appointed leader/leadership is wiser, more strategic in their thinking, tactical in their approach to engage and has virtue… the winner is clear, defined and understood.

Constructing it all to Enhance Leadership for Teamwork as an Essential Goal

What am I referring to in the term “Leadership for Teamwork?” Organizations can try to influence leaders to work as a team, but only leaders themselves can make it work. Why should you want to be a team-oriented leader, and how can you take steps to make it happen, even when the status quo is not favorable? A strong motivator to becoming a better cohort with your leaders-colleagues-peers is to take stock of what “not” collaborating is costing you during the tough times (and, even the not so tough times).

As you attempt to lead others and yourself, it is important to keep in mind your quintessential intention to enhance, deepen and strengthen the spirit of “we are absolutely on the same team, sounding with one unified voice, and committed to achieving the same outcome/ Future Picture for one another.” Integrate the improvement of the quality of leadership for effective teamwork into your objective, strategy and tactics. Include it in the vision and mission and ensure that all members across each level of the organization understand and can communicate it without fail. It must not “only” be written on a fancy picture and placed on the wall (the all too common inspirational). It must run like blood through veins and become as important as the air we breathe.

Express your value of Leadership for Teamwork and team fortitude by ensuring that the cost factor is not as important in the decision to remain on a continuum to train organizational behavior, transformational leadership, strategic execution and team building maneuvers as the decision to make all allocations to do so. The cost of not doing it, even when things are tough, offers a far more potential for failure.

If you overlook Leadership for Teamwork and effective team building maneuvers by focused exclusively or excessively on the outcome you want teamwork to accomplish, you’ll place your team and organization in a position to neglect the means to your end and eliminate the solution-centric outcomes in your future. This would be like a U.S. Marine purposely neglecting to adequately care for his weapons while on the battlefield.

How you think about each individual and team in the organization is the most critical aspect in Leadership for Teamwork. By leading your own thoughts, you begin leading in the most significant way. So discipline yourself to think about those you are responsible for leading as members of your team, and not as your problems, adversaries or competitors. You have to “mentally embrace” them as for you, and not against you, particularly when they demonstrate difficult conduct. This is the truest form of selflessness that, in most cases, is forgotten.

An effective and easy tool to form the greatest disciplines in Leadership for Teamwork is for everyone to do his best to interpret the behaviors of others, however dissonant, as a sign of a core challenge or initiative that needs immediate attention. It’s important to realize that behaviors are a form of communications to address Leadership for Teamwork and this action can transform bad feelings of resentment into positive organizational behaviors and gratitude. Our President Barack Obama, the 44TH of the United States, used similar techniques to successfully win the elections to lead the American people; “CHANGE and Leadership for Teamwork!” His message rings true around the world and is also being used to bring communities and Governments (also forms of teams) together in ways that at one time, would never have been thought of. Marcus Aurelius said, “Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart.”

This statement can be applied to teams and defines the true meaning of Leadership for Teamwork. The team that is not overwhelmed with being productive and full of life is far too busy dying. Life is born from every member and led by every member. Regard Leadership for Teamwork as an essential means for overcoming fear, winning change and leading through cooperation to experience peak performance that takes the organization to the next level.

How to Lead your Team to the Next Level

What is the worst thing that could happen? Actually, people will ask a more rhetorical question: “what could happen?” But, they never really get the answer they are hoping for because of fear. Most of the time, just asking the question seems like progress is being made or, a significant amount of time (meetings to schedule more meetings that promotes nothing but time and talk) planning and not executing. This is a question that simply hangs in the spam folders, lost in internet space or on a memo at the water cooler. Don’t let it become a technical “error message” that requires someone else to get it done. Take the initiative to go against the status quo and get the question answered yourself. Consider the very worst thing that could happen; answering the question for yourself can and will stimulate movement in a positive direction. Often, the absolute worst case isn’t as bad as might think.

What is the best possible outcome? Seriously, what is the best thing that could happen? Think about the scenario where everything goes perfectly. Will this be your outcome? Maybe not, but your worst case scenario likely won’t happen either. It takes both of these questions to really understand your situation. Chances are, your results will be somewhere between the two. Once you have considered the range of possibilities, you are in a better position to decide whether to proceed or not, and you will have definitely reduced your fear of failure if you do take that step forward.

Next, you can explore the development of a “Memorandum of Understanding” (MOU) for the team. This is designed for people to learn broadly, to inspire the service out of generosity for others, and to prepare them to lead courageously into the future. A Memorandum of Understanding encourages a perspective to become firmly grounded in the potential for successful growth using a series of constructs – a portfolio management approach – that everyone buys into for effective deportment and forward movement. A Memorandum of Understanding acts as the blueprint for strategic leadership on the teams and across the organization.

Are you wondering how to build an organization in which executive leaders, team leaders, middle managers and front line staff will flourish? To build an environment where people, teams and organizations will flourish and achieve peak performance, you must get the best leaders to pay close attention to the design of the elements around them (situational awareness).

The Memorandum of Understanding articulate a lucid purpose, helps to create effective leadership teams, prioritize their initiatives carefully, redesign organizational structures, employ strategic intent meets strategic agility to result flawless and strategic execution and, most importantly, integrate all these tactics into one coherent strategy.

The Memorandum of Understanding must include the following constructs:

 The Cardinal Rules,
 The Guiding Precepts,
 The Forms of Disposition,
 The General Orders,
 The Strategy Forward – Establishing Professional Mastery, and
 The Centers of Gravity.

The Cardinal Rules are a set of guidelines that are invaluable for people and organizations to follow while planning and executing at the strategic or tactical level. These rules, once established by the individual(s) or teams are the rules that govern forward movement and must not change (i.e. To manage by mind, lead by heart).

The Guiding Precepts are designed to inform people what they should and should not be doing in accordance with executing a well designed strategy to win. They also inform of the reasons “why” an action must occur and the repercussions should the individual and/or organization fail at meeting such a task (i.e. Unselfishness; this trait is the avoidance of providing for one's personal comfort and advancement at the expense of others. The comfort, pleasure, and recreation levels should be placed above everything. Looking out for the needs of others is the essence of self-leadership).

The Forms of Disposition offer a substantive transformation in “thought” about how people achieve a perspective on things in life. It refers to an orchestrated, systemic and revolutionary new world-view resulting in a “change” of societies, cultures, and marketplaces due to behavioral perspective. This is today often called "systems theory," which sees a web of relationships coalescing to become something greater than the parts. Individuals must be able to look at things from a perspective that they are always changing and evolving into new forms – thinking “out-of-the-box!” We are doomed to a slow death unless radical change occurs in the way we think. Change your way of thinking or die a slow death (i.e. Mistakes are a fact of life that requires an eraser; it is the ability to respond to error that counts. You can’t live without an eraser).

The General Orders are broad, community-wide "need statements,” designed to encompass a variety of related issues in a person’s life or within the life cycle of an organization. These related issues are referred to as “Guiding Objectives,” which are specific items that need to be addressed. The Guiding Strategies (developed to fit current and future circumstance) are the methods identified for addressing the Guiding Objectives, and the Guiding Policies are the specific action steps that are recommended to implement the Guiding Strategies. The General Orders, all eleven of them, offer the ability to explore implications in an open and reflective manner and reinforce each other in providing a coherency and wholeness often lacking in life cycles (i.e. Know yourself as a “Leader” and seek continuous improvement).

The Strategy Forward – Establishing Professional Mastery. The traditional values are the foundation of the modern day; that was yesterday. Tomorrow, you have an opportunity to create commitment and the needed momentum to establish, publish, share, and teach a different set of life’s code, values, and ethics to journey into the future. After much hard work, you are prepared to develop a strategy to move forward and plan the next steps to target critical successes for winning the Future Picture. What a legacy you will leave when executed with personal and professional bearing for others to follow. This is the way of the future. This is a new chapter (i.e. Remove the Jars’ Lid: Allow for profound growth by employing Transformational Thinking to navigate the maze of organizational politics – and the schedule to do so – to accept change).

The Centers of Gravity. Just as time changes, so does the internal and external influence in your life and in the life cycle of an organization. The Centers of Gravity are the dynamics within a process that offer the greatest impact on the overall system when change happens. They offer a high level of “value” and return on your energy “investment.” When combined with the concept of parallel deposits (creating energy from various perspectives in a short period of time), the Centers of Gravity make possible the seemingly impossible task of realizing success in changing paradigms.

The Centers of Gravity places significant influence on the five established epicenters of any changing system to receive desired effects: Leadership, Processes, Infrastructure, Population, and Action Units.

In summary, a Memorandum of Understanding, your blueprint for strategic leadership, offers an opportunity to free up our actions as public servants. It is empowering, it is enabling and it grounds us in a public way on the fundamentals that we all must share. There is no ethical malaise. It is important to realize that the new is not a finding from what has been lost. Rather, we are like the journey of the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz story in search of a brain (brain power in this context); the Tin Woodsman in search of a heart, and the Cowardly Lion in search of courage. Your value system is intact and has been with you the entire way thus far. The Memorandum of Understanding simply articulates and reaffirms the core value and behavioral perspective that already underlie your personal and professional appearance and conduct to achieve significant growth.

Develop, learn and instruct the Memorandum of Understanding well. It will make the difference between winning and losing in every aspect of your life – personally and professionally – and maintain a positive team building attitude.

Finally, Maintain a Positive Team Building Attitude

To lead most effectively, the leader’s attitude needs to be strongly and deeply rooted in the dynamics of the team and its fortitude, particularly when relating with individuals who are also seeking to grow themselves and the organization they are a part. The Memorandum of Understanding has been used to lead successful transformation efforts for organization and teams to achieve their goals in and away from the organization and the battlefields of life. A paradigm-changing approach, the Memorandum of Understanding concurrently addresses multiple disciplines across the entire transformation life cycle; enabling leaders and teams help people build a stronger, more responsive and resilient organizations.

It all begins with three creeds: one for achieving Personal Proficiency, one for achieving Professional Mastery and the last for achieving strategic execution while remaining strategically agile; a message in the form of a poem to help you with overcoming your deepest fear; and finally, something my team and I refer to as, “The Entitlement.”

Rather than relating to a series of ongoing problematic behaviors as a hindrance or as a threat to your objective, relate to the development of your Memorandum of Understanding as a guide for how you need to build teamwork and team spirit and fortitude to meet the inevitable challenge of change and effective leadership.

The Leader’s Creed – Individual Leadership

“I possess my own weapon. There are many like it but this one is unique. It is my life. I must master it as I must master the discipline that allows me to be. Without my weapon, I am useless. I must fire my weapon as a rifle. I must shoot straighter than the enemy who is aiming at me. I must win him before he wins me. I will! My weapon is human, even as I am human, because it is my life. My weapon and I know that what counts in personal war are not the rounds we fire. We know that it is the hits that count. We will hit! I will keep my weapon clear and free, even as I am clear and free. My weapon and I are the defenders of my soul. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the standard of generations to follow – Failure is never an option, Ductus Exemplo!”

The Leader’s Creed – Instructors

“These are my future leaders. I will train them to the best of my ability. I will develop them into smartly disciplined, mindful-physically fit, basically trained specialists, thoroughly indoctrinated in love of personal leadership. I will demand of them, teach them to demand of themselves, excellence and demonstrate by my own example the highest standards of personal conduct, morality, and professional skill.”
The Strategic Executor’s Creed

“My loyalty to my team and organization is beyond reproach. I humbly serve as a guardian to my fellow colleagues, always ready to defend against the enemy’s force that is trying to diminish our progress. I do not advertise the nature of my work, nor seek recognition for my actions. I voluntarily accept the inherent hazards of my profession, placing the welfare and security of others before my own. I serve with sincere gratitude on and away from my team to impact my teams’ responsibility on the battlefield. The ability to control my emotions and my actions, regardless of circumstance, sets me apart from others. ... In the absence of orders I will take charge, lead my teammates and accomplish the mission. ... I will never quit nor will I ever conclude my pursuit for excellence. I remain agile to strike with speed and force and thrive on adversity. My team expects me to be mentally stronger and strategically smarter than my enemies. If knocked down, I will get back up, each and every time. I will draw on every remaining ounce of emotional strength and ability to protect my teammates, the mission and the organization to ensure success. I am never out of the fight and forever in debt to self, my teammates and the mission."

Your Deepest Fear
“Conditions are never just right. People who delay actions until all factors are favorable are the kinds who do nothing.” – William Feather

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. Storms come and go, but it is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We must ask ourselves, why are we chosen to accept brilliance? In actuality, why would we not want to be chosen? And, chosen by whom? You? Me? It's impossible to thrive without constantly updating ourselves with the knowledge used to execute life’s journey. Individuals who see themselves as visionary’s grasp this concept better than most. They remain on a continuum for growth, personally and professionally, to stay ahead of the learning curve within our ever changing global economy.

Accepting your personal call to duty may require you to walk slower so that people won't feel insecure as you embark upon a personal rite of passage. We are meant to live for greatness and the time to shine is now. Are you ready? You have no choice but to be prepared to influence others to be ready for finding their voice as you have learned to find your own. It requires a choice for changing reality and for some, that choice is easy. As we decide to become a beacon of light, we must be willing to step out on faith, work towards greatness, and be fully aware that all storms have a time to be over. Liberation found within our personal convictions unshackles our souls to guide us unconsciously into becoming a Champion of Change.

The Entitlement

No one alive can buy it or rent it and it can not be lent for any price
…If ignored both of your enemy and yourself, you are sure to be defeated in every battle

Truth must always protect the covenant of integrity and honor amongst good
…knowing how to subdue the enemy without fighting is the ultimate objective

It can not be inherited nor can it be purchased
… the laws of success are to avoid the enemy’s strength and strike his weakness

You alone and our own have earned it with our passion, heart, sweat and tears
…it is a doctrine in battle, that supreme training gleans a presence and makes our position invincible

You own it forever, the attribute & title: The “LeaderShaped Leader!”

If you would like to receive a copy of our Memorandum of Understanding to guide you with developing your own, simply send me an email at Dpitts@thebisongroup.com. God Speed as you continue on your path to experience your own unique state of Leadership for Teamwork, using team building maneuvers to take your people and team to new levels and conquer the challenge of overcoming the “fears of change” across the organizations and teams you are leading.

Developing yourself (Personal Proficiency) and your Organization (Professional Mastery)

Leading at the Edge

Leading at the edge means playing to win as an individual, as a team and as an organization. Surprisingly, the vast majority of leaders are in fact “playing not to lose,” which means they are not really leading at all. Organizations that develop a transformational leadership culture and understand the impact of organizational behavior excel because they become magnets for the enormous talent produced during the economic downturn. These are the organizations that continue to provide its greatest assets – the people – with opportunities to learn, grow and build the leadership competencies that win.

These organizations become high-performing organizations by attracting and keeping their most talented people fully engaged, and by creating a self reinforcing cycle whereby leadership development is at the heart of successfully running the organization. Regardless of their professional and organizational roles, all top leaders must understand how leadership, culture, organizational behavior, teams and operational effectiveness are closely intertwined to achieve outstanding results.

Drawing on the latest studies of high-performance leadership and years in the executive education classrooms whereby the world of business professionals across a multi-disciplined spectrum of industry delivered outstanding lessons to our faculty, we will translate this cutting-edge knowledge to the real world of leading teams and organizations, especially in times of change, transformation and uncertainty. You will learn what the leaders in top companies, who are known for their outstanding leadership cultures, do so successfully to continue leading at the edge.

To learn more about our "Leading at the Edge" program, please email me at: Dpitts@thebisongroup.com and visit us at: http://www.thebisongroup.com or http://www.teambuildingbootcamp.com.