So, let’s rephrase the FAQ:  How do you influence someone to change their behavior?

Answer:  Obey the First Law [...]]]> Whether CEO, CFO, employee, spouse, spouse-ette, baker man, thief – we all want to know:  How can I make him/her/them behave differently, the way I want them behave?  The answer: You can’t, they must. OK, you saw that coming.

So, let’s rephrase the FAQ:  How do you influence someone to change their behavior?

Answer:  Obey the First Law of Performance, articulated by my past colleague Steve and Dave.  How people perform correlates to how situations occur to them. Steve and Dave: “Consider that when we do something, it always makes complete sense to us.  On the other hand, when others do something, we often question, “Why are they doing that? It doesn’t make any sense!” But, if we got into the world of the person [into their head], and looked at how the situation occurred to them, [Being John Malkovich, trailer] we would experience that the same actions that we were questioning were completely and absolutely the perfect and correct thing for him to do, given how the situation is occurring to the person.”

Knowing the First Law, you can probably answer The Ultimate Leadership FAQ. Give it a try. I’ll push the pause-blog button …. [Musak for 9 seconds] … Yes, you are right! To change someone’s behavior, change how the world occurs to them. Change how the world occurs and their actions change to match the new world view. Bingo!

That was easy. So the Real Ultimate Leadership FAQ is: How do you change someone’s “occurring world”?

The answer: Change where their world occurs. It occurs in the conversation they have about the world (situation, other people, sales targets, deadlines, frozen budgets, new competitors, you name it). It’s the conversation, Silly! Create a conversation that creates a new world occurring — a conversation that the person now generates for themselves, and lives inside of. Simple and profound. Welcome to leadership.

Camille Smith understands what it takes to change at the individual, team and organizational levels. It’s not easy, it’s worth doing, and it’s required of everyone today, not just leaders. Specializing in transformational leadership, she provides the knowledge and coaching to teach others to create and sustain breakthroughs in performance. She doesn’t bring the answers; she brings them out of you. Reach out to her at camille@wipcoaching.com.

If you consider yourself curious, creative and innovative (or want to demonstrate more of those qualities), listen not just to the music, but to the musician – the leader generating the sounds that move you.

Let’s start with [...]]]>
Do you need to re-ignite yourself in these days of 100 inputs to produce 2 outputs? Turn up the volume!

If you consider yourself curious, creative and innovative (or want to demonstrate more of those qualities), listen not just to the music, but to the musician – the leader generating the sounds that move you.

Let’s start with less is more – as in Les Paul is more than a legendary guitarist. Considered a pioneer in the development of the solid-body electric guitar which made the sound of rock and roll possible and credited with recording innovations, including overdubbing, tape delay, phasing effects, and multi-track recording, Les lead himself first as he describes playing with arthritic fingers, “learn(ing) in a hurry to live with and overcome obstacles”.  For today’s “lead yourself first” lesson (and at the risk of having you not return to read the rest of this post), please listen as Terry Gross interviews Les Paul, guitar hero who recently passed. Hear his verve at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111888401.

Want the classical approach? There’s Roger Nierenberg, former conductor of the Stamford Symphony and creator of The Music Paradigm. “Being on the podium affords the global view of the lights and shades that were there, already playing, but you didn’t hear.” Roger will be at the October 2009 GILD.  I cried during his keynote last year. Join me for at best leadership immersion program on the planet, email me to take advantage of a 2-for-1 offer.

My point? Shake up your listening. Rattle your own box. Roll into a new future by listening for the inspiration around you, especially coming from your team. Keep the box, use it when it works. When it doesn’t serve you, step beyond it to achieve new possibilities for yourself, as a leader, and your team, as a team of leaders.

Camille Smith understands what it takes to change at the individual, team and organizational levels. It’s not easy, it’s worth doing, and it’s required of everyone today, not just leaders. Specializing in transformational leadership, she provides the knowledge and coaching to teach others to create and sustain breakthroughs in performance. She doesn’t bring the answers, she brings them out of you. Reach out to her at camille@wipcoaching.com.

What’s ur carbon date? U know ur old when your dentist doesn’t know what carbon paper is. U know ur old when you say ‘true dat’ to the 20-something you are trying to impress and they get a nostalgic look in their eye and say “wow, I haven’t heard that in years!” U know [...]]]>

What’s ur carbon date? U know ur old when your dentist doesn’t know what carbon paper is. U know ur old when you say ‘true dat’ to the 20-something you are trying to impress and they get a nostalgic look in their eye and say “wow, I haven’t heard that in years!” U know ur old when your audience doesn’t laugh at a promise to “mimeograph that to all staff on Monday.”

I am a card-carrying Boomer and proud of it. If I get too proud, however, and blinded by my own sage light, the Millennials will move on and I’ll be left in my own dust, having not connected or been respected. A Boomer Bummer, big time.

We boomers need to get over ourselves and get on with partnering with the Millennials. Why? Start the list. #1: We need their new thinking and world view to solve problems we’ve created in our environments – the environment within our corporations and the one on the planet. This may be on the only item we need on the list.

Lisa Orrell, www.theorrellgroup.com, the generation expert, author of Millennials Incorporated, and my co-facilitator of Transitioning to Leadership Program: How to Effectively Move Your GenY Employees Into Leadership Roles (for program info, www.wipcoaching.com), reminds me that “the Millennials are not young boomers, they see work and themselves in very different light.”

During a recent panel Lisa moderated on the topic of Working with Millennials at Cisco for the www.Fountainblue.biz series, When She Speaks, a Women in Leadership Series, the following was revealed: Millennials are energetic with a ton of ideas and a direct, assertive style in communicating them, without necessarily following established business etiquette or without (or even knowing they need to) respecting the chain-of-command expectations (e.g., they may speak to top management over or before their direct bosses). They are globally-minded and techno-savvy, leveraging social media tools (YouTube, FaceBook, Twitter) to build their networks and knowledge.

They are used to multi-tasking (texting during meetings, committing to many work and life projects and juggling multiple priorities), to confidently speaking what’s on their mind (directly communicating their goals and objectives), and to being global in their interests and connections. In addition to these strengths, a noted weakness is that many Millennials are more interested in generating ideas than in seeing them through to results and conclusions, often distracted by the next idea.

What’s are we Boomers to do? I say Adopt a Millennial. That’s my 09 project. Anyone interested? I am accepting applications now. Tell me what you want to learn in the domain of leadership and I’ll mentor you to succeed. In exchange, you teach me about your world. True dat.

Camille Smith understands what it takes to change at the individual, team and organizational levels. It’s not easy, it’s worth doing, and it’s required of today’s leaders. Specializing in transformational leadership, she provides the knowledge and coaching to teach others to create and sustain breakthroughs in performance. She can be reached at camille@wipcoaching.com.

She got [...]]]> Recently, I worked with a manager who wanted to build greater rapport with her team. I gave her an assignment. I asked her to think about what was unique about each team member, how did they contribute to the work the team did, what did she most value about each individual’s role within her organization?

She got back to me with her list. She had put a lot of though into it. One employee was great at relieving group stress by lightening things up. Another had a gift for organizing the work environment. A third was superb with difficult customers.

Her next assignment was to think of a symbol for each trait or behavior. These symbols should be something she could purchase for a few dollars: a puzzle for solving challenges, a silly mask for bringing humor to the workplace, a slinky for flexibility.

She made her list, shopped for and found appropriate items, then presented them at a meeting. She reported back the following:

• This exercise made her think about what was valuable about each person and increased her appreciation of the work they did.
• At the end of her presentation, she said, “I hope you all know how much I value you.” One member of the team spoke up. She said, “I do now.”

Want to build rapport? Do this exercise. Make a list of your employees. Note what is unique about each: characteristics, valued behaviors, specific ways in which they support the team. Once you have completed the list tell them what you value. You can do this a bit at a time, one on one or in team meetings, or you can go bigger and flashier and do what this manager did. Either way the payoff is worthwhile.

Cindy Ventrice is the author of the best-selling book Make Their Day! Employee Recognition That Works and the companion guide Recognition Strategies that Work. She has been quoted in The New York Times, Harvard Business Update, Workforce Magazine and on CNBC. She has worked with managers in 14 countries and has helped hundreds of organizations improve employee morale and loyalty through effective recognition strategies.