GAINMORE Leadership Advantage
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Introduction
Welcome to the GAINMORE leadership Advantage!
You are constantly being asked to do more with less. Whether in business,
social or family life. Everyone is striving or being pushed to improve
performance - do things better, faster, cheaper. The pressures on every
individual to increase their own and their team's performance is increasing -
the more turbulent the environment, the greater the pressure.
This guide is intended to help you understand and develop your leadership
capabilities and behaviours and enable you to more effectively develop your
team. Throughout this guide, I use the game of golf as a metaphor and
parallel to the game of leadership to aid your understanding and illustrate...A guide
This is a guide book rather than a prescriptive set of steps you must take in
order to achieve success as a leader of yourself and your team.
But just like a travel guide - you can consider each part and focus your
attention on those parts that will have the greatest impact on your
performance now.
You might like to invest some time in doing the GAINMORE Advantage self-
assessment. This will help highlight your current strengths and the areas you
should consider developing as a priority.
Whilst this is guide in book form, the learning process is experiential. Each
chapter is laid out like a hole on a golf course only with 4 shots for each...Course Map
The information and background, the map of the hole, its course management and
overview and the drivers to improve and develop.Observe
We observe suitable role models from the world of golf and the world of
business leadership - to observe and learn from.Reflect
Reflecting on ourselves, our skills and abilities and what we have learned from
observing our role models. What works, what doesn't work for us.Simulate
Coaching ourselves, or finding a coach to practice in a safe environment.
Experience
Putting the learning into practice in the real outside world
MORSE for golfers
The MORSE learning cycle is easily seen in developing our golfing abilities.
When we first start to play the game of golf, we need some knowledge of the
game - that it is played with golf clubs, a small white ball, and there are
rules by which we must abide.
Before playing a golf round, there are many fundamentals about the game we
will need to know. And, when we play a course, we will need to know about that
specific course -where to place each shot, the hidden hazards, the slope and
so on.
This is our Map of the course...MORSE for leaders
The MORSE learning cycle is no different in a leadership situation.
In order to lead someone else, we need to know and understand them personally
or as a group. The more detailed and intimate the knowledge, the better
equipped the leader is to make good decisions. We need to know the map of the
people, the goal and the environment.
The leader observes the team, the environment the competition and reflects on
the observations, knowledge and experience.
Many leaders will practice for certain key events such as making
presentations, or coaching a team. Simulating the experience to be better
prepared....But I don't do it that way!
You may not be following this cycle in full, and you may find that you prefer
to start at a different point.
Many many golfers for example, do not learn any knowledge about golf, nor find
an instructor, nor even practice. They just go straight out to the course and
whack a few balls around. Very very few of these golfers score well. Some are
'naturals' and seem to have picked up the game without any of the formal
learning - but I have yet to meet such a 'natural' who didn't 'learn from some
other sport or activity and use this knowledge to play.
It is likely that even more leaders do not or have not been through any formal
learning cycle to become a leader. Most are put into a position of leadership...
What is the GAINMORE Advantage?
The GAINMORE Advantage is a pragmatic personal and team learning model. It is
based on the concept of quadruple loop learning (I'll explain more in a short
while) and it works because human beings have a commonality in the way we
develop our abilities, learn, create, communicate and choose how we live our
lives.
The precept is that as a human being you wish to continue to grow and learn
and develop. What you want to learn, and how you want to develop - whether
what you learn is cognitive (knowledge) or behavioural (physical) does not
matter.The GAINMORE Model
Why it is called GAINMORE
Each letter represents a distinct step in the learning and development
process.
G stands for Goals and incorporates the values and beliefs system for a
particular person and the vision of the goal. Why no V and B and V then?
Basically it didn't make for a memorable neumonic. Our goals, values and
beliefs determine what we want from life and thus everything that we do or do
not do.
A stands for Attitude and Alignment. Two distinct aspects of an individual yet
also similar....Quadruple Loop Learning
The GAINMORE model shows four distinct loops of learning - something referred
to as quadruple loop learning.
A single loop of learning is when we have evaluated the review and outcome of
an activity and found it to be motivational or not. We tend to repeat
motivational experiences and avoid demotivational experiences.
A very simple example of this is when we learn that fire is hot and hurts. At
some point in your childhood, you will have put your finger in a candle flame
or a fire. This action resulted in the outcome of a burnt finger, or at least
beginning to burn. You reviewed this as painful and unpleasant, you value your
finger and value an absence of pain - the experience is thus demotivational....Mind, Body Spirit connection
It is tempting to think that the GAINMORE model is always linear, and there is
a certain logic to it. Yet, you know that human beings do not always follow a
strict pattern of logic, if we did, then life wouldn't 'be so exciting and
interesting.
I think of us, human beings, being created as three parts:
We have a spirit - the fundamental base that sets humans apart from other
animals - this is the centrality of our beliefs and values - which in turn
are the major influence on our nature - who we are deep down.
We all have a mind. Informed by our spirit, this is dominated by the way we
consciously think and process. The mind is something we can choose to control...
How the Model works
Now that you can see the makeup of the model and some of the links between each
part, I'll put the model into the context of developing yourself, coaching
others and developing a team.GAINMORE Advantage and golf
Earlier I mentioned that I'll be using the game of golf as a metaphor and
parallel, in a short while I'll discuss the key links and the reasons we are
using the game of golf. But first, a brief example of the GAINMORE Advantage
development process on the golf course:
You are about to walk up to the first tee of a beautifully landscaped golf
course. This might be the thousandth time you have done so, or the first. This
is a par 72 course and, depending on your handicap and technical skill, you
are expecting to complete this course in a certain number of strokes.
Your goal today is a number of things - you will see the score written on your
scorecard, you will feel the warm sunshine and feel a sense of enjoyment and...GAINMORE Advantage for Personal Development
The GAINMORE Advantage model has been developed from several key streams of
literature on personal development.
In the hands of an individual it is a self-coaching process. Concentrating on
my individual responses to each step in the process - what I believe about
myself and the way the world works. What is important to me personally? What
is more important, and what is less important.
Using the SWING goal-setting process to establish my own SMART goals that I
can picture and fully understand how I will recognise and know when I have
achieved my own goal.
How I align my own resources, my knowledge (do I need new knowledge?) and my...GAINMORE Advantage for Coaching
The original purpose of the GAINMORE Advantage model was as a coaching model.
Taking us beyond the too-simplistic models such as GROW to affect deep and
sustainable change for people. But let me interject here on something I
believe is critically important, to differentiate coaching from other key
approaches to learning and development: coaching, mentoring, and training. All
of which can be one-to-one or for many.
Coaching is guiding another person in discovering their own answers and their
own development. What are you going to do?
Mentoring is about relating personal experience, often in the form of stories,
such that the other person finds useful experience and knowledge to apply to...GAINMORE Advantage for Team Development
You can see the power of the GAINMORE Advantage model for individual
development and now we add a layer of complexity to it by using it for
developing teams of individuals.
And there is the crux of the matter. It is a team made up of a number of
individuals - each with their own personal beliefs, values and goals. Each
with their own way of aligning themselves to their goals and each with their
own attitude to situations. Every individual is different to a greater or
lessor extent. How then, do I as the team leader, pull all this together into
one team?
If we simply combine everything from every individual, it's likely that we...
Why a new model?
YALB Yet another leadership book?
Yes, and no.
The 'formal and official version'
There are several thousand books on leadership produced each year. There are
few aspects of leadership that haven't, at some time or other, come under the
scrutiny of academics, writers and the media. But, and there had to be a but
didn't there? Most of these books and articles fall into one of four
categories:
1. Leader biographies - written to extol the leadership practices, behaviour
and/or traits of a particular individual....Talent, Leader, Manager, Individual contributor?
There is an old proverb that says "Leadership is doing the right things whilst
management is doing things right." And the distinction between management
and leadership separating the qualities of leaders and managers is traced
back to Zaleznick (1977). Kotter (1990) reinforced this distinction, that
good management brings order, consistency and quality to otherwise chaotic
organisations Contrasting this with leadership which is preparing the
organisation for change and helping employees cope with the struggle of
changing it.
But nowadays organisations are 'de-layered' - the defined functions of
"management" are less absolute and a manager's power base of influence has...Talent
The search for talent is ongoing. Individuals seek to develop their talents,
companies seek to identify talent and retain it, succession planning requires
it, politicians plan for it, and the world wants to find it. But what is it?
I was having dinner at a friend's home and the subject came up because their
11 year old son had recently brought home his school report card which stated
from his art teacher: "[His] talent is yet to be fully developed." His mother,
always one for a quick tongue responded "His only talent is making excuses for
not doing his homework."
The young boy sat at the table grimacing. He'd heard this story a few times
already and whilst his mum meant it in jest, there was an element of truth in...Identifying talent
In my meetings with clients to discuss their talent identification it usually
starts with an attempt to define what is the talent we are seeking to
identify. Most often, this is stated as being 'leadership talent', those
individuals who are 'bright', 'motivated', 'good leaders', 'inspires others',
'charismatic' and so on - words that we've seen in the thesaurus.
This is good, we can test these. Find out who has them and crack on.
I've seen this in many organisations. The brightest and best are identified as
part of the talent pool - there's some fanfare, a suite of training programs,
perhaps MBAs are taken and the talent are promoted. Meanwhile, the non-talent
morale has sunk, many have quit or actively seeking new positions, commitment...Leveraging Talent
Taking someone's talent and leveraging it into the workplace requires a little
creative thinking. Fortunately, creative thinking is something that we can
develop. It's part de Bono's lateral thinking and part conceptual mapping.
Some connections make absolute and logical sense, others require us to dig
into the talent and how that talent is done by the individual.
Using the examples cited above, I shall briefly outline the main connections
that the individual leveraged - either on their own 'naturally' or through
coaching.
Throat singing is a rather rare and peculiar talent. For this CEO it was his
party trick, something he found he was able to do when very young. Encouraged...
Management and leadership competencies
Many researchers have attempted to identify and isolate the competencies or
characteristics or dimensions of superior performers in the practice of
management and leadership. McClelland is often cited as the father of the
modern competency movement. In 1973, he challenged the then orthodoxy of
academic aptitude and knowledge content tests, as being able to predict
performance or success in life as being biased against minorities and women
(Young, 2002). Identified through patterns of behaviour, competencies are
characteristics of people that differentiate performance in a specific role
or job (McClelland, 1973, Kelner, 2001).
In his well-researched book, Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman shows that...Leadership Dimensions Framework
Dimensions Core
Intellectual
Critical Analysis and Judgment Gathers relevant information from a wide range
of sources in order to identify and then solve problems. Has a critical
faculty which probes the facts, identifies advantages and disadvantages and
discerns the shortcomings of ideas and proposals. Makes sound judgements and
decisions based on reasonable assumptions and factual information, and is
aware of the impact of any assumptions made.
Vision and Imagination Imaginative and innovative in all aspects of one's
work. The capability to establish sound priorities for future work. To have a...Mapping the Framework to GAINMORE
This table shows the core managerial and leadership behaviours and the quickest
route to developing each competency using the GAINMORE developmental process:
Dimensions GAINMORE Development route
IQ
Critical Analysis and Judgment Review ð Evaluate ð Outcome
Vision and Imagination Vision ð Goal ð Alignment
Strategic Perspective Values ð Goal ð Evaluate
MQ
Resource Management Alignment ð Outcome ð Evaluate
Engaging Communications Influence ð Motivation ð Review...Using the competency mapping in practice
I'm going to illustrate how we use this mapping in practice with three examples
from the core management and leadership competencies, one from each of the
intellectual, managerial and emotional competencies:
Strategic Perspective Rises above the immediate situation and sees the wider
issues and broader implications. Explores a wide range of relationships
between factors and balances short and long-term considerations. Is aware of,
and sensitive to the impact of one's actions and decisions across the
organisation. Identifies opportunities and threats from both within and
outside. Is aware of, and sensitive to Stakeholders' needs, external
developments and the implications of external factors on one's decisions and...
Why golf?
I started my own journey with this model in seeking a new and different way to
present a subject that has been discussed a zillion times. To differentiate
what I had to say if you will. Then, as I delved more deeply into using golf
as a metaphor, it became more and more suitable. there seemed to be very
little that I couldn't, in some way, relate directly to the game of golf.
Now, it is obvious to me. Golf is a game that tests your self-leadership, it
is you against the golf course. few other sports directly compare, where it is
just you, the equipment that you have chosen in an environment that is fixed
yet dynamically changing, within a formal and complete set of rules that are
universally accepted....The links between golf and leadership
It is well known that the game of golf is often considered a business
necessity. Business leaders play golf - in fact Mintel's research (BRB/Mintel
2006) shows that 44% of senior managers, executives and professionals in the
UK have played the game. Not only will you find that golf is the game of
choice for nearly half the business leaders in the UK, the game provides a
wonderful prism to examine leadership in a new and enlightening way.
Whether you are an avid player, play once a month with clients, have joined a
game on a company outing or you have never actually picked up a club, golf
provides valuable lessons and a means of exploring your leadership journey.
Most new golfers arrive at a driving range, grab a driver and hold on to it...
Team roles
People at work have both a functional role (their job and function using their
expertise and experience) and a team role (that person’s tendency to behave,
contribute and inter-relate with others in a particular way).
In a study at the Henley Management College into effective teams, Dr. Meredith
Belbin identified nine clusters or team role behaviours, each of which is
present in the most effective teams.
Overall Belbin roles Description
Doing / acting Implementer Well-organized and predictable. Takes basic ideas
and makes them work in practice. Can be slow....
GAPPS Assessment
The GAPPS (GAINMORE Advantage Potential to Performance Assessment is included
in your membership.
Take your assessment now.Values & Beliefs - personal guidance system
Many of you will use a GPS (Global Positioning System) device in your car to
gudie you to your destination. Well, each of us has our own PGS (Personal
Guidance System). The foundation on which we build our lives and everything we
do comes down to two core things: Our values and our beliefs.
There are some who argue that we are born with certain traits and that we are
predisposed to operate within those traits with a certain margin of change.
The suggestion is that we are 'hard- wired'.
Each one of us is unique (with the possible exception of identical twins). We
have a particular genetic make-up inherited from our parents which determines
our body, our brain and includes some 'hard-wired' responses to ensure our...Understanding values
Values are the motivational keys that cause people to choose to follow a
particular person, path, goal, career.
Think for a moment of the value that brought you to the work you do now. Were
you motivated by curiosity? Prestige? Success? Financial reward? Security?
Enterprise? Community? Service? Advance? There are many other values that may
be your personal drivers.
Edgar Schein identifies 10 key values that a people have and the sort of
associated goal that helps us understand the value:
Power The motivational goal of power values is the attainment of social...Golfer Values
You play golf because in playing you gain something of value to you. Your
‘reason’ for playing may include, enjoyment, fun, exercise, peace, challenge,
winning, battle, frustration, proof, friends, business, networking, gambling,
status and many others. Some of you may even have ‘forgotten” why you play,
but do so anyway. One friend of mine tells me "Because I can!" which covers a
nice multitude of possibilities, can physically? financially? socially? etc.
Whatever your reason, you find value in it.
There are times when you choose between playing golf and doing something else.
The one that you choose provides more value, for you.
For example, your buddies ask you to join them on Saturday for a game, you...Leader Values
Great leaders are individuals who have successfully developed (or taken over)
a story that appeals to the values of their followers.
A leader needs to know and understand their own values and the values of
their followers.
You do not necessarily need to know the detail of their values, but some real
knowledge will greatly help you weave the story that will work best.
Abraham Lincoln is credited with saying "You can please some of the people
all of the time, or all of the people some of the time, but you can't please
all of the people all of the time."
And that is probably the issue that many leaders face. Each individual in your...Organisation Values
Many if not most organisations now publish a statement of the organisations
values, sometimes called or including an 'ethics statement'.
Most often, these messages have good intention to genuinely identify the core
values of the organisation and then are spun by copywriters and marketing to
be both acceptable to the audience and have a positive marketing impact.
Sir Adrian Cadbury has little time for outside consultants who are brought in
to "design" a "ethics statement" stating "The ethical standards of a company
are judged by its actions, not by pious statements of intent put out in its
name."
Jack Welsh says that you must be public about the consequences of breaking...
I'll believe it when I see it!
In almost every workshop I run and in many coaching sessions, someone will ask
for empirical evidence or ‘solid proof’ before they will commit to applying
the tools and techniques that will bring them benefit.
Beliefs are similar to values in that they are part of our personal guidance
system. Beliefs often inform values, and values in turn reinforce our
standing in regard to our beliefs.
Beliefs are a critical part of what makes us who we are, but there is a
distinction that I find helpful. A belief is something that we have no
tangible, undeniable (scientific) evidence to support. It is impossible to
measure beliefs. We simply believe this to be so. Values, on the other hand,...Golfing beliefs
You need to believe something before you see it!
When you first played golf. I mean the very first day that you picked up a
club and struck a ball. Remember it? OK. Just before the moment that you
struck the ball - however well, or not so well you struck that ball. BEFORE
you swung the club you believed that:
a. Swinging the club towards the ball was the right thing to do,
b. that striking the ball would propel it in the direction of the swing.
You did NOT believe that swinging the club at the ball would cause the ball
to become embedded in the club face. What you saw was what you believed you
would see. ...Leader beliefs
This is a story of two leaders. We worked with the organisation on team
leadership because one of their sales teams was "highly successful" and
another was "doing poorly, with a very low morale". The organisation wanted us
to "find out what's working in [the high-performing team],fix the
[low-performing team] and run a training program for all the other sales teams
to be as good as [the high-performing team]."
Ann, the leader of the high-performing team had joined the company 5 years
previously as a sales representative. She was good at her job and always
exceeded her targets. She was promoted to team leader after 3 years and had
infused her own enthusiasm, determination and will to her team. Her team...
Knowing values and performance
Warren Buffet notes that lack of honesty can create adversity. His hiring
criteria: integrity, intelligence, and energy. Hire someone without the first,
and the other two will kill you."
Kouzes and Posner's excellent book, The Leadership Challenge includes the
understanding of personal and company values as key to commitment.
Interestingly, they have surveyed organisations around the world linking
knowledge of values to commitment. Their findings are presented in the chart
below:
We can see that it is much more important that each person has clarity of...Team Values & Beliefs
By now you know that understanding your own values and the values held by your
team is important. You also know that beliefs play a very important role in
shaping and guiding you and your team. That together, an individuals values
and beliefs are their guidance system and the very foundation on which they
think, act and behave.
The good and the great leaders of this world know this. Politicians are
elected on their values and the beliefs that they will deliver on them (in
spite of continued evidence to the contrary!) Wars are fought over values and
beliefs. They strike at the very core of our humanity.
So how do we discover our own values and those of our team?...Discovering Personal Values
Understanding your own values is important for a leader, for a parent, for a
human being. You already know some of the things that are important to you in
your life and your work and your team members will know some of their values.
Being able to share these and probe can encourage much greater commitment.
This is a coaching exercise, best done one-to-one. You can do this for
yourself through self-coaching - just take the role of coach and coachee.
Remember though, when coaching yourself, continue to probe to elicit responses
rather than allow yourself a quick and easy answer.
Objectives
You will be able to:...Discovering Team Values
Great leaders are individuals who have successfully developed (or taken over) a
story that appeals to the values of their followers.
Values are the motivational keys that cause people to choose to follow a
particular person, path, goal, career. Think for a moment of the value that
brought you to the work you do now. Were you motivated by curiosity? Prestige?
Success? Financial reward? Security? Enterprise? Community? Service? Advance?
There are many other values that may be your personal drivers.
Objectives
You will be able to:
Recognize key words which denote values...
Goals
Back in 1973, Henry Mintzberg caused a stir in the academic world by suggesting
that managers spent most of their time firefighting rather than managing.
Instead of spending their time on matters strategic or even important,
managers spent their work days dealing with less important yet urgent matters.
At the time, many managers spent a great deal of time wiritng and reading
memoranda, sitting in meetings that achieved little, responding to urgent
operational matters and busily rushing from one hot spot to the next.
So what's changed? Well, basically, it's gotten worse. The speed and ease of
modern communications, particularly e-mail, means that many managers spend
even more of their time reading, dealing with, and responding, than ever...The importance of goals
For far too long, consultants, trainers, guru’s and leaders have been
misleading us about goal setting. We keep hearing the same myth that people
with written goals achieve greater success in life. I fell foul of this story
myself - after all, it cam from the pages of a famous author and I’ve seen it
repeated again and again. Most recently in an article published by the
Professional Golfers Association. The trouble is, that this story becomes
linked with the concept of setting SMART goals, for which there is some
evidence, but written goals? So, I felt that it was time to set the record a
little straighter and based on just a little bit of real research…
Goal-setting is one of those things that people, it seems, are near unanimous...What is a goal?
Hold on just a moment though, what do we mean by a ‘goal’? Everyone at some
point in their life has heard that it is important for us to have goals. Goals
provide you a map to your future, whether in business, life, career or indeed
sport. It seems obvious, but a football team playing without a goal to aim for
is just kicking a ball around. But, other than the more obvious physical goals
as the target of a particular game, what exactly is a goal? And how do you
know when you have achieved it? Is it even very important to have goals? A
sporting goal is a useful analogy though, here we are more interested in the
non-sporting variety.
The OED definition of a goal is “an aim or a desired result”. That’s useful,...What is goal-setting?
Inadvertently, or deliberately, people asking us when young “what do you want
to be…” have set us on a process of goal-setting. They are asking us to peer
in our mind’s eye into the distant future and describe our goal. With little
worldly experience, we most likely think of people we admire that through
their job demonstrate what is valuable to our young minds.
What would you like to achieve in X years that having achieved it will satisfy
your personal values? Would you ask a ten year old that question? No? It’s
unlikely that they would understand - but with the massive leaps in education
and increasing pressure on children to know a whole lot more than the current...Is goal-setting important?
Ask almost anyone about the importance of goal-setting and they will affirm
that it is incredibly important. Here is a small selection of verbatim
responses to the question “How important is goal-setting?”
“The difference between successful people [and people struggling] is the
setting of tangible and measurable goals.”
“I believe goal setting does work and needs to be written down. “
“If there are no set goals, things either happen, or they don’t.”
“With measurable goals you are in action to fulfill them”
“… there’s no excuse for failing to progress if you don’t take ownership
of your own goals”...
Why SMART goals
Edwin Lock and Gary Latham have undertaken a great deal of leading research
about goals and goal-setting and neatly suggest that setting goals implies
dissatisfaction with the current condition and a desire to attain an outcome
Locke and Latham, 2006.
Why Specific and Stretching?
In Locke and Latham’s 2006 study and previous articles, there is an emphasis
on the positive relationship between goal difficulty and performance. Locke
and Latham, 1990; Locke and Latham, 2002. That is, the more difficult the goal
is to achieve, the higher the level of performance is manifest - allbeit...Goal focus and personal wealth
Respondents were asked if they were willing to share their own personal goal,
60% did so and these break down into four main focuses: Career,
Lifestyle,Money or Ability. We also asked how satisfied respondents were with
their achievement.
* For those with a Lifestyle goal focus, average wealth is 95,000 and
‘satisfied’ with their achievement.
* A Career focus, average wealth is just over 100,000 and ‘somewhat
satisfied’
* A Money focus, average wealth is 162,500 and ‘satisfied’ and lastly,...Outcome goals - some issues
The problem facing many people with regard to ‘Outcome’ goals is that there is
an element that is outside the power of the individual.
An example of the potential issues with an ‘outcome’ goal comes from a rather
sad testimony from one particular research participant:
“My goal was to have $3 million in the bank for my retirement by age 55. I
achieved my goal with great satisfaction early at age 43. Unfortunately my
bank was at the centre of a fraud and went under. 16 years later, I am still
working and slowly rebuilding my goal. So, goals are important and we need to
know what we want to achieve in life - just choose a goal only including...Performance Goals
An interesting aspect that began to show itself through the results was
personal satisfaction in goal achievement. People who set ‘Ability’ type
goals, or ‘Performance’ goals reported to be ‘very satisfied’ with their
achievements - whether completely achieved goals or not yet complete. In part,
this suggests the importance of personal values and suggests a question about
the process by which they set goals.
Through a random selection of fifty respondents we found that there is some
commonality in the manner in which goals are set:
When we compare the groups of ‘Very Satisfied’ with their achievement and
‘Satisfied’ or ‘Somewhat Satisfied’ with their achievement. The first group...SMART Golfing goals
I want to with the British Open next year is a SMART goal. It’s specific (The
British Open), it’s measurable (Win), it’s attainable (it’s an ‘Open’), it’s
realistic (a good, consistent golfer can achieve this), it’s timely (next
year).
Now there’s a whole lot of sub-goals, or outcomes, involved in getting to this
point, but as a goal, it’s pretty good. So, what’s your SMART goal for your
golf?
Some SMART examples:
I want to win the Augusta Masters in ten years time.
I want to break 80 this year....SMART Leadership goals
Goal setting process
Many people set goals for themselves when young. Often in response to questions
from aged relatives: "What do you want to be when you grow up?"
When we are grown up and people no longer ask us that question, we stop
setting goals for ourself. When I ask participants on our programmes why they
stopped setting goals, they reply that they ‘tried it’ but they didn’t
succeed. And when hey continued with the activity and continued not to achieve
the goals, after a while they ‘just sort of gave up’. You’ll realise of
course, that if you do something repeatedly, and repeatedly get no success -
your desire to continue with the activity diminishes rapidly. So, your mind
does you a favour by not setting any more goals. That way, you won’t be...SWING
From our survey, those individuals who set performance goals using slight
variations of this process represent a small, though statistically significant
fraction of the sample that have a net higher annualised personal wealth
accumulation (2.15 times) and are more satisfied than individuals who use only
one or two aspects of this process.
SWING Goal setting process
1. A SMART and Sensory performance goal
2. What will I positively Win and lose
3. Am I In control of achieving this goal?
4. Stated as Now...SWING for golf
Now, let me take you though an example. I had a goal to break 80 this year. So
this is how it looks going through the SWING process (I’ll put the SWING steps
in brackets):
(S) I want to shoot 79 and better this year.(W) I will win two more
competitions than last year and see the trophies in my cabinet, feeling great
satisfaction from hearing the crowd and my peers cheer as I collect the
trophies and taste the beer that I bought for my fellow competitors with the
cash winnings. I control my practice and can visualise my goal and align
myself to breaking 80 consistently and accurately card my scores. (I) I
control my technique and can simulate the different environments in which I...SWING for leaders
Team Goals
Setting team goals adds a layer of real complexity to goal setting.
Particularly if the distribution of influence and power is shared equally
across the team. Many committees are wonderful examples of how the
goal-setting process can simply end up in drift mode when little is decided
and even less done.
In the section on team roles, I mentioned the importance of the balance in the
team. Setting team goals is one particular area that is greatly affected by
the make-up of the team and the roles within it.
We run an exercise in workshops that really gets teams to hone in on personal
values and their own particular talent. I will return to this in Team Vision.Team goal setting activity
This is a simple,fun activity to help a team understand the importance of goal
setting and communication process.
Split the team into two teams. Place enough squares (carpet tiles work very
well) in a line for all members of both teams with one extra square in the
middle.
Teams face each other on the squares:
The goal for this activity is that the teams will exchange places on the
squares....
Vision
You step up to the tee on your least favourite hole on the course. You prepare
for the shot, you utter to yourself “I will make this drive, this time it will
be different, this time, I will strike the ball square on, the ball will soar
through the air, and following a graceful arc it will land right smack in the
middle of the fairway exactly where I’m aligned”. Your unconscious mind is
informed by this belief and promptly provides you with a swing that will
support your belief.
How do you train yourself to do this? You spend several practice sessions
building a new belief about your ‘nemesis’ hole (any hole for that matter).
You visualise making the stroke, sending the ball to exactly where you want...Knowing when a goal is achieved
Shared Vision
Communication by the senses
Team Vision
In the section on Team Goals, I mentioned that we run an exercise in workshops
that really gets teams to hone in on personal values and their own particular
talent and setting team goals.
Alignment
Take Dead Aim
Aligning to the goal
Modes of alignment
There's a wealth of evidence that having goals and setting them is an important
process. And that goals are best considered as performance goals rather than
outcome goals - principally because a performance goal is something that the
individual can be in charge, whereas an outcome is often dependent on other
people and/or other things happening as well.
The difficulty with goal setting is not the process of setting or creating
goals, it is ACTING on achieving those goals. The alignment mode you are in
can make a substantial difference to your success or otherwise of achieving
your goals. There are three major modes of alignment found in Mark Forster's
excellent book entilted "How to make your dreams come true". These are "Push...Push mode
If you have to drive others towards an objective, even drive yourself towards
it, I call this being in push mode.
Push mode is typified by focusing your attention on problems that need to be
resolved, or things that need fixing. Many people use a ‘todo’ list or a GTD
(getting things done) system. Are you one of them? Take a look at yours now
and see if it is a list of problems.
The fun, creative or enjoyable things rarely make it onto a ‘todo’ list -
rather there is a tendency to say that once the list is done and I have time,
then I’ll do the fun stuff.
What’s more, you will already know that the things we pay attention to are the...Pull mode
Pull Mode, on the other hand, is about leadership and paying attention to
growth and improvement.
Rather than focusing attention on problems to be solved or fixed or overcome,
in Pull Mode we take time to clearly envision our future and allow the goal to
pull us towards it. The results of Push Mode and Pull Mode may appear to be
the same (that is the achievement of the goal) but Pull Mode takes less effort
and allows our unconscious activity to take precedence over conscious linear
processing.
The idea of Pull Mode is that you create a vision of the future that is so
compelling for you (and perhaps for others) that you cannot help but be drawn...Drift mode
The stresses of Push Mode, always making things happen and forever coming up
against obstacles and ‘time-wasters’, causes many people to fall into Drift
Mode rather than Pull Mode.
Drift Mode is quite different to Pull Mode, somewhat ‘New-Agey’ in influence
where one just ‘lets things happen’. call it karma, fate, life forces,
whatever - it generally involves emptying your mind of worries and anxieties
and just letting life happen to you. Whatever way the wind blows, you drift
along with it.
You might end up on an agreeable shore when you allow yourself to drift over
the seas of life, or you might end up somewhere unpleasant, or. most probably,...Pushmepullyou mode
This mythical creature in Dr Doolittle provides a metaphor for how many leaders
feel about leadership. They are in Push Mode for themselves, driving the
agenda and encountering resistance of their ‘followers’ who have to be pulled,
some suggest dragged kicking and screaming, in the chosen direction.
No wonder many leaders are exhausted. Many drive themselves to an early grave
or opt-out entirely and fall into Drift Mode.Which mode are you in?
Do you take pride in hard work? Do you brag about working more than 50 hours a
week? Do you use ToDo lists? Do you think that in order for things to happen,
that you have to make them happen?
If you answer yes to most or all, you’re in Push Mode.
Do you have a compelling vision of your future self? Find your work
effortless? Know that everything that needs to be done will be done?
Sounds like Pull Mode.
Have a sort of idea what I want in the future? Take it easy whenever possible
and avoid unpleasant tasks? If things happen they happen, if they don’t ‘they
don’t?...
Aligning the team
Attitude
Attitude+Aptitude = Altitude
It's all very well understanding and believing that our attitude is more
important than our aptitude, but exactly what can we do about it? What makes
the difference that you can develop?
There appears to be three major differences between those that achieve great
success in their field, and those who remain in the obscurity of mediocrity.
Successful people know what they want to achieve. They have a clearly defined
goal and a vision for achieving it, knowing that technical aptitude alone is
insufficient.
They are constantly seeking ways to learn and improve.
They consistently present a positive attitude....Technical aptitude alone is insufficient
Jimmy Conners, winner of 109 professional singles tennis titles says "There's a
thin line between being #1 or #100 and mostly it's mental."
In his well-researched book, Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman shows that
it's our attitude more than our aptitude that determines our altitude. Whilst
our society lauds intellectual giants and power, Goleman's research concludes,
"At best, IQ contributes about 20 percent to the factors that determine life
success, which leaves 80 percent to other forces." Other EQ researchers,
Robert Cooper and Ayman Sawaf consider this too conservative. In their book,
Executive EQ: Emotional Intelligence in Leadership and Organizations, they
write, "— IQ may be related to as little as 4 percent of real-world success —...Difference makers have a better attitude
Consider all the things that Tiger could use as an excuse at the 2008 US Open:
Hadn't played in a competition for 2 months
Recent knee operation - reduced fitness
Further damaged knee on swing during the tournament
Highly skilled and determined competitors
Poor first round
Pressure of historical wins
Expectations very high on his performance
Does not need the money
After blowing a three shot lead with 8 holes to play, Woods rallied and came...What can I learn?
People who achieve great success are always learning. They seek ways to improve
and are prepared to work through the difficulties of change required to become
better.
Peter Senge in his book, The Learning Organization, expands in great detail
about his idea for organizations to constantly seek improvement in everything.
But what about learning at a personal level? What if you are currently at the
top of your game? Surely you've already learned.
Our learning journey can go through a series of steps and the height of our
performance is determined by our technical ability and our mindset, our
aptitude and our attitude....Prepared to change
You're at the top of your game, you're doing better than anyone has ever done
in your field. Technically, you are the best in your business. You earn more
than anyone else in the same line of business. You have a serious competitive
advantage. Why would you decide to change something fundamental about the way
you do what you do?
After seven years and 142 tournaments in a row, Tiger Woods finally joined the
ranks of mortal golfers when he missed the cut at the Byron Nelson
Championship May 13, 2005. Golf pundits argue that changing his swing is to
blame.
...
A Positive attitude
We all have days (sometimes weeks and months) where everything seems to be
going wrong. Whatever you try to do, however clear your goal - there just
doesn't seem to be any progress.
Sports psychologists refer to the period when everything is going well and
peak performance is apparent as being 'in the zone'. Golfers who find their
rhythm and the ball lands just so. The athlete who has trained and is at their
physical and mental peak runs the race of their life. The business person
who's found themselves in the right place at the right time with the right
product or service.
Yet most of the time, we just ain't there. We yank the club and the ball lands...What's better today?
Being prepared to learn and change and put in the required effort is a critical
step in constantly improving. But this carries the suggestion that we should
focus on what is wrong, or what needs improving.
If we're going to consider being in "pull-mode" towards our goals and
ambitions, a much better question to ask is "what's better today?"
When you meet someone, or write a message it is 'normal' to ask "how are you?"
or "How do you do?" Now in doing so, do you really, truthfully want to know
the answer?
"Well, I've had this terrible problem with my stomach and I didn't sleep too
well last night for all the stress I'm under and..."...
Why attitude matters
Emotional Intelligence
Changing attitudes
Team attitude
Influence
Leadership is influence.
Language of communication
Being a person of influence
Influencing self
When we ask this question in our workouts, we are usually met with blank stares
at first. i call them ‘blank stares’ because to be looked at as if you are
completely off your trolley isn’t something I choose to reinforce. The first
response from that first brave soul suggests that there is no need to
influence oneself. Basically, it runs like this: I decide to do something, I
tell myself to do it, and I do it. No influence is required. I don’t have to
ask myself nicely, or threaten myself with unpleasant consequences, or
persuade myself that it will be worthwhile. Really? If we could slow down the
thought processes going on, you might think differently.
...
Influencing the team
Nature
'Natural' behaviours
Personality
Paradigms of learning
Leadership Paradigms
Team Nature
Shifting Paradigms
Network
No man is an island
Circles of influence
Leveraging your network
Team networking
Motivation
Motivation is a fruit of behaviour
Linking Values, Resources and goals
Motivating the team
Outcomes
Tactical outcome setting
Specific outcomes
If there was ONE thing...
Review
Giving and receiving feedback
What did you learn? What did you enjoy?
What's better today?
Reviewing team performance
Evaluate
Measuring learning and change
Evaluation is a continuous process
Team evaluation
GAINMORE Leadership Advantage
Added: 2010-01-18 07:22:44
From: (Joined 2010-01-18 07:19:51)
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GAINMORE Leadership Advantage
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