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Leadership, Personal Development

How to have a Stress-free Vacation

Glenn Sommerville

Does the thought of ‘spring break’ or vacation cause you grief? Taking a vacation is a great way to relax, recharge and rejuvenate, but it can also be a source of stress for some people. Whether it’s the preparation for leaving work or the stress of catching up when you return, the whole experience can be overwhelming. It doesn’t have to be this way. That’s why taking steps to reduce stress before you go on vacation and after you return is important. Here are some things you can do to help! If you’ve seen them before, it might still be worth a skim through as a reminder.

Just recently, having the opportunity to take a vacation with my family reminded me how stressful a vacation can be, unfortunately. With the official “spring break” quickly approaching, I thought some might find a refresh of a previous article helpful and timely. In today’s world of always being connected and the ongoing expectations and demands placed on us in our work lives, it can be difficult for many to get away on vacation easily. Then there is the mess when we return! The result too often is that the week before we leave is high stress, and the week we return is brutal! Then there is the time we are actually off on vacation. Regardless of whether we can disconnect while away, the first few days can be tough as we de-stress from the week before, and then a few days before the end of the vacation, we begin to think of what awaits our return, and the stress and anxiety ramps up.

To help a little, I’ve refreshed and re-posted some information from previous posts that may help.

Before you go:

PRO TIP:  Block off your last & first day.  When in your calendar to schedule your vacation, block off the last day (at least half the day, if not the full day) before you go and the first day you return.  Leading up to your vacation, be very selective about what meetings you book on those last and first days if any.  This allows you time to clear your inbox, ensure delegation is set up, take care of any priorities that need to be looked after when you are gone, and gives you time to deal with the inevitable last-minute pre-vacation “crisis” that surely will pop up.

Assign a delegate.  Of course, you will appoint a delegate to look after your most important responsibilities. However, read through this for some subtle tips.  Advise your team who the delegate is and how to contact them.  Turn on your out-of-office notification and put this contact information in the notification so that when others beyond your team try to contact you, they will realize you are out of the office and will know whom to contact should they need to do so, rather than wait for your return.  The less you have to deal with when you return, the better!  It’s also a good opportunity to develop your delegate.  Be sure to provide clear instructions and expectations for your delegate. 

With enough advanced planning for your vacation, you can have the delegate shadow you to certain meetings or even take on some of the more critical or complex responsibilities.  This reduces their stress and gives them the support they need before going solo.

Be selective about emergency contact information.  It’s important to disconnect from work while on vacation, but there may be some situations where you need to be contacted.  Determine if and to whom you want to provide your contact information should an urgent or emergency occur.  Be certain to select someone you trust with your contact information that will really scrutinize contacting you.   Leave your cell phone number or contact information regarding where you will be staying.  This may or may not be your assigned delegate.  Let your team know you are not checking or responding to emails or texts while you are gone.  Be sure to provide clear instructions on what constitutes an urgent matter or emergency.

PRO TIP:  Top issues summary.   Leave instructions with your team to summarize key issues or problems you need to know about or where they need your help immediately upon your return.  If you have an assistant they can consolidate all these items in one email and send it to you just before you return.  You can assign this to your delegate if you don’t have an assistant.  The intent here is that this shortlist will allow you to quickly focus on the most important items immediately upon your return rather than trying to sort through all your emails or reacting as things are brought to your attention somewhat randomly throughout the first day back at work.

Take care of yourself.  In the days leading up to your vacation, prioritize self-care activities like exercise, meditation, or spending time with loved ones. This will help you manage stress and anxiety and enjoy your vacation fully.

Set boundaries.  Setting personal boundaries while on vacation is essential to ensure that you can disconnect and recharge. It’s important to communicate your vacation plans and expectations with colleagues and clients beforehand, such as letting them know that you’ll be out of the office and not responding to work-related messages or calls during this time. If you need to check in occasionally, schedule a specific time slot and limit your availability outside of it. Additionally, it’s helpful to disconnect from technology and avoid checking work emails or messages during non-work hours. By setting personal boundaries, you can ensure a well-deserved break and return to work re-energized and focused.

While away:

Many of us never really leave work while on vacation.  Or, don’t leave it long enough to disengage to maximize the many benefits of our vacations and enjoy it!

Here are a few reminders of why it’s a good idea to disengage while on vacation:

Revitalization – When we clear our minds of work, we can gain a different and often better perspective. Our brains will continue working on problems and challenges in the background and developing new ideas or solutions. Relaxing revitalizes us, allowing our subconscious to be creative.

Development opportunities – Delegating and/or empowering your team members with your responsibilities is a great development opportunity for them. This also allows you to assess better and evaluate their readiness and capabilities for future progressive roles. In addition to the growth opportunities, your delegate evaluates aspects of your role. This can be a good thing or a bad thing for you, but always good for them!

Respect – This is multi-directional. By your team not contacting you and allowing you to disengage, not only are they respecting your time, but you are respecting them by showing your confidence and trust in them. It also sets the example for when they go on vacation; they are not expected to check in or be reachable when away because they realize you will respect their time off and need to disengage.

A better time – If you can disengage, you and your family will have a better time. Also, those back at work will as well.  No one likes to contact someone while on vacation!

Family – Your family deserves an uninterrupted vacation as much as you, sometimes more! They also want and deserve your full attention. They will know when you’re thinking of work, and you won’t be able to give them your full attention.

Health – Everyone needs some downtime. No one is superhuman and can go full steam ahead indefinitely. To live a longer, healthier life, you must take some downtime and disengage.

To sum it up with the adage,

No one on their deathbed ever said, ‘I wish I’d spent more time at the office.

Don’t wait until then to figure this out!

Upon Return:

Prioritize based on the summary of issues.  Review the consolidated list from your team of the urgent matters they need your immediate assistance with. Use this list to set your priorities for your first day back.  Schedule urgent meetings or phone calls as necessary to address these issues.  You blocked out your first day…this is one of the reasons why.  Use some of this blocked time to address these urgent matters.

Delegate Check-in.  Check-in with your delegate to see how things went and if there is anything you need to know about or follow up on.  It is important to find out what actions you need to make, what commitments they made on your behalf, or what’s outstanding that needs your attention.  It’s also a respectful thing to do.  Ask your delegate what they learned from the experience, what they liked and didn’t like, and what they would do differently next time.  It’s also an opportunity for you to give them feedback on how they did with the delegation.  Delegation should provide a development opportunity for the delegate, so having this reflection conversation is critical to maximizing their development and learning opportunities. 

PRO TIP:  Email vacation holding file.  Instead of trying to catch up on all your emails while you were off, create a “Vacation holding” file within your email and move all the emails received while you were gone, other than the last 1-2 days, to this file.  Then sort through and process the remaining emails from the last 1-2 days.  This will help you avoid feeling overwhelmed and allow you to focus on the most important emails first. If something comes up that you need to search through the emails in the vacation holding file, you have them available.  After a week or so, if you haven’t found you need any emails from this folder, you can go ahead and delete them.

Reflection.  Reflect on what worked well and what didn’t before, during, and after your vacation so you can tweak your vacation routine accordingly.

PRO TIP: Book your next vacation NOW!

If this was helpful…why not give us a like!

Please share your vacation stress reducing tips in the comments!

Contact me:

For additional information on High Performance Leaders Inc., click here.  Or follow on LinkedIn.

You can email me with any questions at glennsommerville@hotmail.com, find me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/glennsommervilleL2R/.

If you are enjoying my posts and find the information useful, please “Follow” me by entering your email in the follow box on the right-hand menu of my website www.glennsommerville.com

Leadership

Protect the Core – 10 Steps to Protect your Team from Interruptions and Burnout

Glenn Sommerville

Summary

In today’s fast-paced world, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and burnt out. Interruptions can be a significant cause of burnout for team members, leading to decreased productivity and morale. However, in leadership, one of the leader’s primary roles is to “Protect the Core,” or in other words, protect your team from interruptions to prevent burnout.   Here are ten steps a leader can take to “Protect the Core”: 

Click on any of the ten steps to learn more information about it.

  1. Set clear goals and expectations
  2. Use project management tools
  3. Establish a communication plan
  4. Encourage breaks
  5. Provide resources for stress management
  6. Encourage open communication
  7. Provide alternative work arrangements, not necessarily working from home
  8. Minimize meetings
  9. Celebrate successes
  10. Monitor for signs of burnout

Ten Steps to protect your team from interruptions and burnout

1.  Set clear goals and expectations:
One of the best ways leaders can protect their team from interruptions is to set clear goals and expectations for everyone. When team members know what they need to accomplish and when they need to do it, they can work more efficiently and stay focused on their tasks. Leaders can also set expectations for how team members should communicate with one another, such as what times of day are best for meetings, collective focus times, or when it’s appropriate to interrupt someone’s work.

A common mistake a leader can make is to assume that all their team members understand their goals and the expectations of them. Instead, when the team is under pressure or the leader suspects that team members are feeling overwhelmed, they should start by reviewing individual team members’ goals to ensure they are, in fact, the current priority.  Often the need to change priorities can go undetected as the team member may be unaware of the priority change.  In addition, a review of expectations helps ensure everyone is aligned on what needs to be done and when and what doesn’t. Things can get lost in the shuffle, and tasks that were once important may no longer be necessary and can be stopped, or at the very least, can be paused for some time.

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2.  Use project management tools
Project management tools can be beneficial for reducing interruptions and keeping everyone on track. These tools allow team members to communicate about projects, assign tasks, and track progress without constantly interrupting one another. Using these tools enables team members to stay focused on their work and reduce interruptions from others.

A daily huddle board is a visual management tool used by teams to quickly and easily communicate updates, progress, and issues related to a specific project or process. The board is typically displayed in a common area where all team members can easily access it at any time.

The huddle board usually consists of several sections or columns, each representing a different aspect of the project or process being tracked. These sections may include:

  • To-Do: This section lists the tasks that need to be completed during the day and who is responsible for each job.
  • In Progress: This section lists the tasks currently being worked on, along with any notes or comments about the status of each job.
  • Completed: This section lists the tasks completed during the day.
  • Issues/Blockers: This section lists any problems or issues preventing progress and includes information about who is responsible for addressing each issue.
  • Metrics: This section may include charts, graphs, or other data visualizations that track key performance indicators (KPIs) related to the project or process.


During the daily huddle, team members gather around the board to review progress, identify any issues or blockers, and discuss necessary adjustments or next steps. This brief daily meeting helps ensure everyone is on the same page and working towards the same goals.  The leader needs to tackle any barriers beyond the team member’s control that prevent them from accomplishing their priorities.

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3.  Establish a communication plan
Communication is essential for any team, but it’s crucial to establish a plan for how and when team members should communicate with one another. For example, the leader might set specific times of day for team meetings or establish a protocol for how team members should communicate urgent issues. Establishing a communication plan can help reduce interruptions and ensure everyone is on the same page.

Part of a team communication plan should include establishing some guidelines or team code of conduct around when people can be interrupted.  Simple visual cues as simple as coloured paper or sticky notes to indicate when someone can be interrupted work very effectively.  For example, green paper means ‘come on in’ or open for interruptions; yellow may mean focused work, only interrupt if it cannot wait, and red meaning do not interrupt unless it is an absolute emergency.  It is also essential to clearly define what cannot wait and what is an absolute emergency. Another simple example is if someone has their headset on, they should not be interrupted.

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4.  Encourage breaks
Taking breaks throughout the day is essential for preventing burnout and increasing productivity. Leaders should encourage team members to take breaks and step away from work when needed. This could mean taking a short walk, grabbing coffee, or simply stretching. By taking breaks, team members can recharge their batteries and return to work more focused and energized.

Research indicates that humans need a mental break every 90 to 120 minutes.  Setting a timer on a cell phone or another electronic prompt effectively reminds you that you need to step away for a few minutes, re-energize, and regroup.

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5.  Provide resources for stress management
Stress is a significant contributor to burnout, so it’s essential to provide resources for stress management. This could mean offering meditation or yoga classes, providing access to mental health services, or simply encouraging team members to care for themselves. A simple team stretch throughout the day or a group walk at lunch is very easy to do. By supporting team members’ mental health and wellbeing, leaders can help prevent burnout and keep everyone on track.

Rather than asking your team members if they are keeping busy or even the general how they are doing, ask them if they have adequate time to think and plan.  Unfortunately, poor cultural norms sometimes prevent team members from admitting they are overworked or overwhelmed.  By asking them if they have adequate time to think and plan, a leader is likely to get a more accurate response to the team members’ current workload and state of mind.  A leader needs to create a culture and environment where not only will their team tell them they have too much work, but the leader rewards them for doing so.  This means the leader has to be intentional about their questions and responses.

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6.  Encourage open communication
Encouraging open communication among team members can help prevent interruptions and reduce stress. When team members feel comfortable talking to one another, they’re less likely to interrupt one another or feel like they’re working in isolation. So leaders need to encourage their team members to share their thoughts and feelings and provide a safe and supportive environment for open communication.

A leader should model open communication by being transparent and honest with their team. Share information openly and quickly, and encourage others to do the same.  Ensure that all team members are respectful of each other and that everyone’s ideas and opinions are valued.  When conflicts arise, and they will occur during challenging times, address them quickly and fairly. Encourage team members to work through conflicts together and find solutions.

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7.  Provide alternative work arrangements, not necessarily working from home
A potentially touchy subject these days, however, flexible work arrangements, such as remote work or flexible schedules, can be beneficial for preventing interruptions and reducing stress. By offering team members more flexibility in their work arrangements, a leader can help them better manage their time and reduce interruptions from outside sources. This can also help prevent burnout by giving team members more control over their work-life balance.

If remote work is not an option, create a quiet space for team members to work in. This could be a private office or a designated quiet area where team members can focus on their work without distractions.  The cafeteria outside break times can often be an ideal place to escape interruptions!  Sometimes a change of location can be as good as a rest. 

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8.  Minimize meetings

Meetings can be a significant source of interruptions and distractions, leading to burnout. Minimize the number of meetings, and keep them short and focused. Encourage team members to attend only the meetings that are essential for their work.  Let them know it’s ok to decline a meeting if it is not essential to their priorities.  It is also important to establish what is and is not deemed essential while maintaining respect and professionalism when declining meeting requests. 

Implementing a meeting standard duration of 20 or 50 minutes is a great way to improve meeting efficiency and reduce the burden on your team members.  Learn more about this in our article Time Saving Tip!

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9.  Celebrate successes
Finally, it’s important to celebrate the team’s successes and recognize their hard work. When team members feel appreciated and valued, they’re more likely to stay motivated and focused. Celebrating successes can also help prevent burnout by reminding team members of their impact and why their work is important.

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10.  Monitor for signs of burnout

Regularly check in with team members to assess their workload and stress levels. Look for signs of burnout, such as decreased motivation, productivity, and absenteeism. Take action to address burnout when it is identified, such as reducing workload or providing additional support.

Protecting the Core from interruptions and preventing burnout requires a multifaceted approach. However, by following and implementing these ten steps, leaders can create a supportive and productive environment for their team members, significantly reducing the risk of burnout.

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Contact me:

For additional information on High Performance Leaders Inc., click here.  Or follow on LinkedIn.

You can email me with any questions at glennsommerville@hotmail.com, find me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/glennsommervilleL2R/.

If you are enjoying my posts and find the information useful, please “Follow” me by entering your email in the follow box on the right-hand menu of my website www.glennsommerville.com

Together We Can - Values in Action!

Together We Can – Values in Action #50

Glenn Sommerville
Leadership, Personal Development, The Leader

10 Ways To Develop Leadership Confidence

Glenn Sommerville

Read Full Article

Summary

You’re not alone if you lack even a little leadership confidence.  A lack of leadership confidence is very common and is nothing to worry about or be concerned with. However, you do need to develop higher confidence to become a high performing leader. 

There are steps you can take to increase your confidence quickly.  A lack of leadership confidence shouldn’t be a surprise either, as few leaders receive leadership development before taking on new leadership roles, and their senior level leaders often do not have the bandwidth or don’t make the time to coach and mentor them to the required level. 

Here are 10 ways to develop your leadership confidence (click on any method to get more information about it):

  1. Active & Healthy Professional Network
  2. Get a leadership coach
  3. Accept ambiguity in decision making
  4. Open vs closed door decisions
  5. Make values based decisions
  6. Ask for forgiveness, not permission
  7. Failure is an option
  8. Be the leader you wish you had
  9. Project confidence
  10. Celebrate wins

Prioritize based on your biggest opportunities and take on only one or two at a time. Add new ones as you become proficient in the prioritized areas. You are likely to notice a change in your confidence very quickly.

10 Ways To Develop Leadership Confidence – Full Article

Is Leadership Confidence a Concern?

In our article “Concerned?  Is there a leadership development crisis?”, we discussed how 77%* of organizations report that leadership within their teams is lacking and that only 5%* of companies have implemented leadership development at all levels!  Understanding this, maybe it shouldn’t be surprising that many new or less experienced leaders lack leadership confidence. 

77% of organizations report that leadership within their teams is lacking and that only 5% of companies have implemented leadership development at all levels!

From our direct engagement with leaders through our leadership development programs, coaching, and on-site client projects, we have seen an increasing trend of leaders lacking confidence in their approach, response to team member issues, or their own decision making.  These leaders exhibit high concern levels of making mistakes and seek assurance that they have done the right thing.  The biggest risks we see are in matters that touch upon legal, legislation, and precedence setting.

There is good news here, too, though.  We also see that, for the most part, these leaders are definitely on the right track.  Rarely do we hear of situations or examples where they have made a mistake and never where they have made irreversible ones.   Their asking for feedback also shows their maturity and desire to be the best leaders they can be.  Although there is a reason for some concern, we can work with this!

It’s not you; it’s us

So what might be driving this?  Have new, less experienced leaders always lacked confidence?

Yes, I believe so!  Making the jump from an individual contributor to leading others has always been a challenge when leading for the first time.  However, I think it is more difficult for leaders today to get the help and support they need.  I propose that the leadership development gap that exists in most organizations today may be driving this increasing trend we are seeing.  Many leaders receive virtually no leadership development prior to taking on a leadership role but also have less exposure in the form of coaching, observation, and feedback from experienced leaders.  Working remotely through COVID also didn’t help in these areas!  There is also a lower tolerance in the leaders themselves for making mistakes.  They hold themselves to a very high bar.

If you are a leader that lacks leadership confidence, be assured that it’s not you; it’s us!  Us in the sense of your organization and experienced leaders who, for various reasons, do not provide the coaching and mentoring you need.  Several things distract and detract experienced leaders from providing access and time for new leaders, some legitimate challenges, others not so much.  However, we won’t get into those here.  Also, know that although you may think only you feel this way, you are not alone. 

10 Ways To Develop Your Leadership Confidence

1  Active & Healthy Professional Network

Often people consider a professional network as a way to find their next job opportunity.  If this is you, you are missing so much!  Having an active and healthy network is a must for any leader at all levels.  This network and the resulting relationships can be used to share best practices, obtain input and feedback, bounce ideas off, and learn from each other.  An active professional network takes time and energy.  It should be built before ever seeking new opportunities.

Active means that you spend some time growing and nurturing your network.  This does not include accepting any and all requests to connect on LinkedIn.  It means maintaining and developing new professional contacts via LinkedIn, periodic 1:1s within your organization, lunches or dinners with past colleagues, and socializing at community or external business functions. 

A healthy network flows both to and away from you, where you regularly support others, and they support you.   You need to make the effort to respond and spend time with those in your network to help and support them when they need it.  As well as not hesitate to reach out and ask them for support or assistance you could use.  This is a form of mutual respect and is very rewarding.  Your experience potential is greatly magnified as you have much more experience at your fingertips.  Not only will you benefit from this experience, but your confidence will go up once you see that you have great experiences and that others have similar challenges.

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2  Get a Leadership Coach

When taking up a new sport, we wouldn’t think of not getting some form of coaching.  So why do we think we can get a leadership position and not benefit from having a coach?

Good coaching helps us learn quicker, determine the best ways of doing things, and challenge us to do more than we think we are capable of achieving.  A coach does not tell us what we should do or how to do it but rather helps us solve our own challenges by asking probing questions and supporting us along the way.  Coaches provide a safe environment to share your insecurities and admit your challenges and self-doubt.  Having a coach can be a great confidence booster as they help you figure things out yourself.

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3  Accept ambiguity in decision making

Typically, there is no right or wrong answer when making decisions. There are bad, better, and good decisions, but not right or wrong. A leader needs to gather the data or facts, solicit input and opinions, and make informed decisions in real time. Not making, excessive debate, or extended delays in making decisions are usually regrettable. We need to make informed decisions with the best information we have at the time and accept that there is always ambiguity in decision making.

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4  Open vs closed door decisions

At Amazon, we were taught that there are open and closed door decisions.  This was a concept to help leaders make faster decisions and to differentiate that all decisions are not the same and therefore require different levels of consideration in the decision making process.

Open door decisions are those that, once made (you walk through the decision door) can be reversed or changed without any significant difficulty or long term impact.  In other words, the door remains open, and you can walk back through it again. 

Closed door decisions are those that, once made, cannot be reversed or changed without significant difficulty or long lasting impact.

So then with open door decisions, you can make faster decisions and take more risks with ambiguity.  For closed door decisions, you want to be more thorough, involve more stakeholders, conduct trials/pilots, check data/fact, gather more input, and conduct risk assessments, to mention a few.  At the same time, recognize there remains some ambiguity.   

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5  Make values based decisions

Decisions that align or are based on your and your organization’s values are generally good decisions. This is not to say they are easy. Quite the opposite, actually. Often in these types of situations, there are equal but opposite forces at work that can make the decision process very painful. Staying true to values usually proves beneficial when considering and thinking long term. Decisions that go against your values often consider the immediate or short term and can lead to ethical, legal, and cultural impacts on you as the leader and the organization, not to mention a loss of trust and respect.

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6  Ask for forgiveness, not permission

It may not be at a conscious level, but when we ask for permission, it lowers our confidence.  What if the person doesn’t agree?  What will they think of me?  What will I do if they don’t agree? 

Sure, a little bit of security comes with asking permission as you relieve yourself of some of the accountability.  However, long term and continual seeking of permission reduces your ability to make your own decisions and, frankly, does not reflect well on you as a leader.  Senior leaders want and expect the leaders below them to make their own decisions.

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7  Failure is an option

Yes, failure is an option.  Don’t be so afraid of making a mistake that you don’t make a decision or get into the habit of second guessing yourself. 

We must accept that we won’t get it right or perfect every time.  That’s what we mean here by failure.  However, we seldom really fail, either.   As long as we make the best decisions with the information available and learn from any mistakes, it’s not a failure!  So, get over yourself and your fear of failure!  Very few “mistakes” are really failures.  Learn and move on.

The only critical failure is if someone gets hurt (or worse) or it’s a closed door decision that goes badly.  There are not that many closed door decisions to be made for most leaders, and you’ll handle them a little differently when you do have to make them, as described in point number 4 above.

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8  Be the leader you wish you had

This is a great Simon Sinek quote. If you’re struggling with a decision or situation involving your team or a team member, think of this quote, “Be the leader you wish you had.” How would you wish or expect your leader to handle it if you weren’t the leader and were on the other side of a situation? That’s probably the best option! This is applicable to how you may handle situations, decisions to make, or actions to take or not take. It’s a simple but effective way to help you think through different situations.

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9  Project confidence

First, we’re not advocating becoming arrogant and strutting around as though you know everything.  What this means is don’t be a self-doubter.  People can sense it, which can impact your reputation, but more so, it again lowers your self-esteem over time.  

When I was leading a large and company wide project of significance, I had developed a habit of openly sharing all the problems we were facing in the project at the expense of not mentioning what was going well.  I intended to be transparent and expected everything to go as planned, which clearly wasn’t.  One day a senior leader asked me how things were going.  I quickly rhymed off multiple problems I was dealing with.  She then asked me if any of the issues were beyond my ability to resolve.  I assured her that I was very capable of taking care of them.  At that point, she gave me some advice I have practiced ever since.  She told me that it was my job to resolve any issues that arose and that I was expected to do so.  I should, without hesitation, escalate if there were any I needed help with.  However, telling everyone about every problem that was being experienced would erode the confidence in the project and in me as the leader of it.  What I should do was celebrate the wins and manage the misses unless I needed help.  Just by doing this, my confidence increased dramatically, as I’m sure the confidence others had in me did as well.

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10  Celebrate wins

Make the effort to recognize and celebrate YOUR wins. I’m not necessarily referring to your team’s wins, although I’m not excluding them. It’s important to frequently reflect on your personal wins and determine what you did that led to a successful outcome. These are the things you want to repeat or perhaps double down on the next time. Also, reflecting on the wins may highlight that you have done some good things you may otherwise have overlooked, building your leadership confidence.

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Don’t start working on all 10 of these confidence boosters simultaneously.  Review them and prioritize based on where you have the biggest opportunities.  Tackle one or two at a time.  Review your progress at least weekly for what’s working or not working, adjust your actions accordingly, and recognize your progress.  As you become proficient in one of the boosters, take on another.  You’ll be surprised at how quickly your confidence increases.  Don’t forget to enjoy and have fun along the way!

Leave a comment on what ways you use or have used to develop your leadership confidence!

* 25 Surprising Leadership Statistics (2022)

Contact me:

For additional information on High Performance Leaders Inc., click here.  Or follow on LinkedIn.

You can email me with any questions at glennsommerville@hotmail.com, find me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/glennsommervilleL2R/.

If you are enjoying my posts and find the information useful, please “Follow” me by entering your email in the follow box on the right-hand menu of my website www.glennsommerville.com

Leadership, Personal Development, Uncategorized

Concerned? Is there a Leadership Development Crisis?

Glenn Sommerville

Summary

Leadership development is not just about taking a course or reading the latest business book.  Although they are essential components of leadership development, more is needed to result in a better return on investment and a more sustained impact for the leader.  Effective leadership development combines concept learning opportunities with immediate application in the real world, integrated with internal mentoring to align expectations and build organizational culture and coaching to develop leader confidence quickly.

Should you be concerned about leadership development? Yes, from at least two points of view. First, is leadership development a priority in your organization or just when there is time? Second, is there a structured and integrated leadership development approach and methodology, or is it a free for all? If leadership development in your organization happens just when there is time or is a free for all, then perhaps it’s cause for concern and a call to action to be more intentional about your leadership development. Is there a crisis? Yes, because there are more leadership positions opening than organizations are able to fill due to a void of prepared and experienced leaders.

An effective leadership development program should contain these 4 components:

  1. Cultural alignment
  2. Applicable skills & tools
  3. Internal mentorship
  4. External coaching

Concerned?

Are you concerned about your leadership development or that of those within your organization? 

Recent retirement trends are leaving a significant leadership gap in many organizations.  At the same time, many up-and-coming leaders are concerned that they are not getting the leadership development they need to be successful leaders or to be prepared for these opening positions.

In addition, although leadership development programs are available in abundance, many are not aligned with the organization’s culture, don’t help the leaders apply what they learn within their day-to-day responsibilities, and, as a result, lack sustained impact on the leader and the organization.

So, if you are not concerned, you should be!

The Scary Truth

A shocking 77%* of organizations report that leadership within their teams is lacking.  83%* say leadership development at all levels of their organization is a priority.   However, the scary part is that less than 5%* of companies have implemented leadership development at all levels!

Less than 5%* of companies have implemented leadership development at all levels

With senior-level and the most experienced leaders retiring from the workforce in high numbers, 50%* of companies state they lack the leadership talent they need. 47%* predict a shortage of leadership skills in the near future!

47%* predict a shortage of leadership skills in the near future!

Although this needs to be a concern for organizations and senior leaders, this is an excellent opportunity for new and upcoming leaders! Although we don’t need another crisis, we are facing a leadership development crisis, nonetheless.

How We Got Here

The result of slowed population growth in the decades following the “baby boomers” is that there is a smaller leadership pool to draw upon for these needed leaders.  It also means that leaders are being promoted at a younger age and advancing through the leadership ranks faster and sooner than their predecessors.  This in itself is not necessarily a concern or a bad thing.  However, these developing leaders must have the skillsets and knowledge to be effective leaders, gain influence, and drive positive impact across their organizations.  Unlike their predecessors, many of these leaders typically desire and need more mentoring and coaching than they currently receive to gain experience and increase their confidence.

There is a path forward by having an integrated and intentional approach to leadership development. 

4 Leadership Development Components 

4 critical components must be integrated and intentional to result in effective leadership development.  Those 4 components are cultural alignment, applicable skills & tools, internal mentorship, and external coaching.  Let’s take a closer look at each component.

1  Cultural Alignment

Any leadership development program must be aligned with the organization’s culture, meaning that the program reinforces the company’s values, methodology and approach to leadership, as opposed to being abstract to or does not emphasize these attributes in the leadership development program.  For example, if the organization’s culture is one of continuous improvement through team member engagement, aligning to a leadership development program that applies this thinking and provides concepts and practical skills that can be directly used in this culture is critical.

Unlike specific skills training such as accounting or excel macro coding, for example, leadership development programs need to be aligned to the culture because the demonstrated leadership either positively or negatively impacts the realization of the organization’s vision, mission, and values through the engagement of their team members.

In addition, leadership development programs should have progressive and aligned development for leaders at all levels of the organization.  Progressive in the sense of continued development building on previously developed skills to prepare them for advancing their career and being capable and confident to take on a larger scope of responsibilities.  In doing so, a common leadership language and approach is created throughout the organization providing stability and consistent leadership.  This intentionality then provides a known and defined career development path for leaders throughout all levels of the organization.   As a result, defined leadership development can be easily integrated with organizational performance reviews or talent development programs that provide clear leadership development paths and a structured approach versus haphazard or random.

2  Applicable Skills & Tools

Leadership development programs no doubt provide great insights into proven management theory; however, organizations and leaders need and want practical concepts that they can apply to improve leadership and have a positive impact immediately.  A failure of many leadership development programs is that there is too much focus on interesting management theories but often lack how to execute or apply these theories in the workplace.  This is a significant cause of leaders returning from great-sounding leadership development programs, but little impact is observed or sustained long term.

Scrutiny of the leadership development program curriculum is an essential first step. Ensuring that the topics covered are very closely aligned with the practical skills necessary for the intended leaders to be successful and have an impact is essential.  The upskills learned must be immediately applied within their current responsibilities or in the near term.  Practice makes perfect, as the saying goes.  In this case, it’s more about creating the desired leadership approach and habits.

Practice makes perfect!

As important as the curriculum is, it is equally essential that the leadership development program is designed to provide the leader with immersive learning opportunities.  In other words, real examples, case studies, practical exercises, and immediate application through work-related assignments and projects.  This approach again helps the leaders apply what they have learned and realize immediate benefits, which provides a reward and pull to continue to use them.  It then causes a shift from learning to doing.  Most people learn more effectively by doing.

3  Internal Mentorship

Another common failure mode in leadership development is that it should be discussed again after the leader obtains approval to attend or is asked to attend.  Often this is not the case.  Leaders are left with a feeling of “so what” and wonder if they wasted their time.  The organization risks a poor return on investment as there is no check and balance to ensure a positive impact for the leader and the organization, let alone if the leader even attended!

Leadership development programs that include an internal mentor develop relationships, improve the alignment of cultural values throughout the leadership levels, sustain a common leadership language and approach, and improve impact and sustained results. 

Mentorships accelerate the leader’s application and use of the skills and tools through encouragement and reinforcement of use within the organization.  The mentor’s experience can assist the leader in overcoming barriers and challenges they face with a mutual understanding of the circumstances and environment.

An added benefit of an internal mentorship program is that the mentor also learns significantly from the experience.  Discussing the skills and tools with the leader refreshes and reinforces the approaches with the mentor and deepens their understanding simultaneously.  Mentoring is also an enriching experience for the mentor, driving higher engagement and satisfaction levels.

4  External Coaching

Additional coaching from an experienced leadership coach increases the leader’s self-awareness and builds confidence. 

Today’s upcoming leaders need and desire more coaching than they currently receive.  Many leaders state they are not getting enough coaching from within their organizations.  There are several benefits of an external coach. 

In our coaching, we are experiencing that leaders need to bounce ideas and thoughts off of someone, require some assurance that their approach is on the right path, and seek a safe environment to do so.

Leaders are running at an incredible pace these days.  Many are not giving themselves the time to adequately think through their challenges and develop an intentional approach to moving forward.  The feedback we consistently hear is that coaching provides the leader with a structure that almost forces them to stop and think at a deeper level before acting.  Without structured coaching, they tend to fire-ready-aim more often than not.  In other words, their leadership or decision-making is not very intentional.

Fire –> Ready –> Aim

Many leaders lack self-confidence in themselves and are concerned about making a mistake.  We find that the leaders are on the right track but need some assurance.  External coaching can accelerate the leader’s confidence building by helping the leader think through what options they have and which are better than others.  Confidence is built because the leaders develop the options and make the decisions on their own.  The coach challenges them with questioning to help along the process.

External coaching provides the leader with a safe environment that is confidential and disconnected from the organization.  Coaching conversations with an external coach are confidential and not shared with anyone.  This allows the leader to be vulnerable and self-critical without fear of repercussions.  Being able and comfortable with being vulnerable, leaders can more readily identify their concerns and barriers and develop approaches that work for them to face and overcome them quickly.

Conclusion

There is a massive void in leadership right in front of us.  It’s already here!

Individual leaders must invest more time and effort in their development.  Take the lead, don’t wait for someone else or their organization to do so.  “I’m too busy right now” is a common excuse.  Guess what? You will always be too busy.  No one should care more about your leadership development than you!  No one!  If you do not invest in your development, you will not advance or achieve your full capability.  Others will find time, and you will be left behind.  Achieve your career aspirations and grow to your full potential.  Take action today to intentionally determine your leadership development next steps!

Organizations are facing a significant challenge.  Leaders don’t just appear, and you can’t just hire them.  Not anymore.  You must be growing and developing them.  Leadership development is a significant investment in all forms of resources.  Take action today by creating a leadership development program approach that includes the 4 critical components discussed!

* 25 Surprising Leadership Statistics (2022)

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