excellence posts
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Leaders who do L.A.P.s (Learn/Apply/Progress) win the race.
November 17th, 2009
If leaders combine a basic understanding of communication, feedback, team development, emotional intelligence, leadership & followership and accountability with an advance skill of applying their learnings daily they will great results! It requires a discipline to first learn, then apply followed by monitoring progress.
The old saying goes something like this: There are two types of leaders — those who practice their learnings and those who don’t.
I watch leaders of corporate teams everyday. I have come to learn that some leaders have a hunger to learn and more importantly, they focus on practicing and applying their learnings in their day to day experiences. These are the leaders who continually get results. There are others, who learn a competence and then seem to discount it. My assumption is – they consider it to be ‘basic’. They operate on an assumption about themselves that they know the skill and they use it regularly and yet, for some strange reason these are the leaders that seem to falter when it comes to results.
Whistler/Blackcomb opened her doors early this season. With a great dump of snow, we were invited to ski on Nov. 14th – one of the earliest season openers of all time. I jumped at the opportunity.
To give you some context on my skiing competence, I broke my leg while ambitiously learning the skill at the age of 2. I learned how to ski on Ontario snow-ice, raced on the Nancy Greene ski league for 6 years and was brought up in a family with two Canadian National ski team members, one a 1976 Olympian. Skiing was and continues to be a life-skill in my family. Needless to say, I can cut a turn, love to ski loud and fast and have both a high level of commitment and competence.
With every season opening, I discipline myself to review the basics. As I ski down the hill for the first few runs, in my head I am reviewing my body position, reconnecting with my ski legs and considering the finer points of this skill. If I don’t take the time to ‘re-learn’, practice and apply what I know, there will be consequences! So on Saturday, I focused on holding my frame – choosing not to be lazy by letting my left shoulder drop half way thru my turn. With this discipline of combining a basic skill; lazy shoulder syndrome with advanced focus of application; practicing with every turn of the day, I will experience more joy, ease and effortlessness skiing this season.
Leaders who choose to do L.A.Ps ultimately get the team results that win the race.
L.earn a skill, whether basic or advanced,
A.pply the learnings during day to day experiences; practicing, making mistakes, practicing again,
P.rogress - measure the progress of the efforts and then return to L to eagerly start again.
Ask yourself the question, will I get better results by doing a few LAPs today?
If you can measure it, you can manage it – tree 71!
October 20th, 2009
When working with executive teams, I often discuss the importance of clearly articulating core values, identifying objectives/action plans and then driving performance results based on quantitative or qualitative measures – “if you can measure it, you can manage it”.
All of this proved itself true this weekend on my way to tree 71.
As I lay under my cozy duvet on a foggy, rain-drenched, Sunday morning, I realized that every fibre in my body was screaming in high resistance. I desperately wanted to cancel my Sunday morning ritual of climbing up the BCMC trail of Vancouver’s Grouse mountain.
Strangely, I heard myself utter to my partner Jim, “I will be ready in 10 minutes – you?” What was that? Where did that come from?
Fast forward to tree 71.
I stood drenched in sweat with my forehead pressed against the cold bark of tree 71. I had made it!!!!
I turned to Jim, who had not heard a word from me all morning — very unusual for this chatty gal.
“Oh my god, I can’t believe it – I made it to tree 71! ”
“I was totally locked in my resistance. I completely faked getting here. When we started the hike, I went into autopilot. I actually had to motivate myself by calculating the 50% mark of the hike – tree 36. At some point, I stopped to take a break. While I was catching my breath, I looked up and noticed that I was standing on the roots of tree 37! Wahoo!! I was half way there – I could actually make it to tree 71. And look at me now, I just proved it to myself.”
Tree 71 had become my clear goal. Armed with my core values of maintaining my health and wellness, I was able to motivate myself with a smaller measure of success and before you know it, the results were mine. Now it was time to celebrate!
It’s true. If you can measure it, you can manage it. In business and in pleasure, we all need a tree 71!
Challenge your Teams to Exercise Clout
September 17th, 2009
The most effective teams are full of people who have the courage to exercise professional clout in meetings. They’re prepared and passionate about the meeting contents, willing to be influenced and to influence others. They are willing to take ownership of their individual excellence; their wisdom, knowledge and judgement. All of this equals clout!
You may ask – why clout?
The word clout resonates for me. It represents the courage to be excellent, to put forth my viewpoint and to influence my team. If I’m successful, hopefully I will have the courage to try again next time.
Clout is different than power; my interpretation of power is too closely linked to control.
Brigitte Lacombe wrote a great article in the September 2009 issue of Oprah Magazine titled “31 Ways of Looking at Power” (http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/omagazine/200909-omag-power-list/9) in which she highlights Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D.’s formula for power:
- Follow your passion with persistence, magnified by intense preparation (preparation and passion)
- Use compassion and courage to weave a strong web of connections (influence)
- Use focused excellence to drive achievement and gain wisdom (ownership and courage).
She states, “It is through combination of all these things that your power will reveal itself. The magnitude and reach of your power is up to you”. She continues, “Connectivity is key; it is what creates and strengthens your web of opportunity. The more connected you are, and the stronger your connections, the more effective you will be in obtaining and using power to achieve your goals.”
Now that resonates for me! That woman has clout! Your thoughts?
