Leadership

by Michele Milan

As the CEO of Rotman Executive Programs, Michele Milan is up-to-date on the latest theories and best practices for being an effective leader. She shares some of her insights on what it takes to be a great leader in the current business landscape. 

Strong Ethical Foundation 
Leadership is more difficult than ever. We are in a period when trust in leaders and our institutions has been eroded.  Society is demanding and deserves leaders who are moral and ethical.  Leaders with character.  Authentic leadership means speaking and doing from a centre of moral conviction.  It is personal integrity that cultivates credibility and trust. I also believe this is key to finding real meaning in one’s work, and enabling employees to do likewise - to find their work meaningful and really believe they are contributing to something worthwhile. This is important not only for individuals, and not only as a driver of productivity, but for society as a whole.  Businesses have a huge impact on the world around them. A strong ethical foundation in an organization means it will contribute to society in a way that sustains and enriches the lives of all. 

Ability to Communicate
It is still true that a good leader has the ability to envision her organization’s future, and to clearly communicate that vision. Clear and straightforward communication allows everyone to understand their individual roles, in making decisions in line with strategy and moving the organization forward. But good communication is two-way and goes beyond formal occasions. In our more collaborative work environments, with rapidly changing demographics, leaders really need to listen and they need to seek to understand what is really going on. I personally meet with everyone in the organization at least once a year and speak with as many clients as possible. Seeking understanding is critical, but can be difficult because the signal-to-noise ratio can be really high. We are all dealing with vast amounts of information. It can be overwhelming. Leaders now need to communicate constantly to translate complexity and to keep people aligned as the pace of change continues to accelerate. Tuning in to and maintaining awareness of informal networks and channels of communication is crucial for a leader since it is these systems that often determine what really goes on in an organization. 

Strategic Agility
Creating and maintaining a path for advancing an organization’s agenda in a rapidly changing environment requires strategic agility on the part of a leader, both to synthesize and assess vast amounts of information, and to readjust as necessary. This means responding to new circumstances, research and technology in real time. The pace of change is incredible. Leaders must constantly fine-tune their strategy to keep their organizations agile. Clear, two-way communication about changing circumstances and strategy allows employees to respond and realign their own initiatives and roles.

Self-awareness
Self-awareness, self-regulation and a habit of self-reflection are essential for a leader’s personal effectiveness; they also determine the tone a leader sets for her organization. A leader must be able to manage her own emotional reactions, and to understand the effect she has on others, both personally and in terms of the organization’s power structure. There are many techniques for developing greater self-awareness and the ability to self-regulate. My personal favourites are journaling and mindfulness meditation.

Good Practices and Habits
Effective leadership occurs not just in grand moments, but in daily hourly habits. In addition to a practice of reflection, habits of learning and self-care are critical.  Habitually seeking learning prepares a leader for rapid change. Leading also takes a tremendous amount of energy and stamina; a good leader must create habits that foster resilience, practices that recharge and replenish her resources in order to maintain health and well-being. Of course, this is true of everyone in the organization as well and supporting the health and wellness of employees makes the whole organization more resilient and productive.

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As the CEO of Rotman Executive Programs, Michele Milan is up-to-date on the latest theories and best practices for being an effective leader. She shares some of her insights on what it takes to be a great leader in the current business landscape. To learn more about Rotman's leadership programs visit: www.rotmanexecutive.com

3 leadership lessons from a CEO

There are three elements to effective leadership.                                            Everyone has his or her own individual style—no one brand of leadership works all the time for everyone. But, I’ve found there are three key elements to effective leadership. The first is authenticity. Organizations have finely tuned BS meters and can tell when a leader isn’t being authentic. When you are at the podium, you should be—at most—one degree of separation from the real you.
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The second element is self-awareness. When a leader—any type of leader, not just a CEO—walks into a room, the dynamic of the room changes. You need acute self-awareness and need to know when your message is veering off course. For example, I like to use humor and sarcasm in my conversations with people. Occasionally I’ll say something that gets a laugh from the room, but the person I directed it at feels a little uncomfortable even though it was intended to be good-natured. At that point, I try to find a way to send a signal that I regard that individual highly. Self-awareness can be exhausting if you do it right!

The third element is vulnerability. You need to show it. Too many people think that leaders can’t show weakness. But people need to know you’re human and they can relate to you. I get the best responses when I tell stories about me not as the hero, but as fallible.

Avoid talent gaps: build a pipeline.
Years ago at our company, I set up a talent review process. This involves bringing our most senior staff together and discussing the broader management team. We spend half the day reviewing the people, their positives, negatives, and where they need to grow. We then spend the second half of the day talking about key roles in the organization and identifying the three best candidates for each. We have rules—for example, no one person can be listed for more than three jobs. Then we look at the list from a diversity perspective and seek a balance. We also identify what each person needs to succeed in that potential role. Do they require some coaching, mentoring, public speaking training, or something else? Before we started doing this, we had talent gaps in the organization. But with this process, we now have a talent pipeline.

Leadership advice for young professionals: Mind your Qs.
I love talking to young people about leadership. A lot of people believe that if they come into an organization and do a great job for their boss, they’ll be magically lifted up and promoted. But the reality is that some bosses don’t advocate for their people. Others are selfish and don’t want to lose good people to promotions. So I always tell young people that the first thing you need to do is network. The second thing is what I call “three Qs”: IQ, EQ, and PQ. IQ is about intelligence, and we like to think that we hire intelligent people. But I’ve noticed that a lot of young people who are really intelligent believe that it trumps everything. They think that if they just show how smart they are, they’ll be whisked to the top.

Unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth. Because how effective you are is a matter of how you combine that intelligence with emotional intelligence or EQ. You need EQ to help people feel that you are working with them. And finally, you need to be able to read the room. You need to know the reaction you are creating. You need to be aware when you are in political territory. That’s political intelligence—PQ. It’s not about being a backstabber. It’s about understanding the political dynamic of the organization. You need to find the balance between IQ, EQ, and PQ—you can’t expect just one of those to skyrocket you to the top.

Do the leaders in your organization share George’s passion for developing talent? How does that affect the culture? 

George Borst, CEO of Toyota Financial Services (TFS), received the “Outstanding CEO Award” at our 2013 Women in Leadership Institute™. In September, he retired after 16 years at the helm of TFS. George recently shared what he has learned about leadership and employee engagement throughout the course of his career.

Why Your CEO Just Doesn't Get It

Quality leadership or a lack thereof is easy to spot if you know what to look for. The problem is most people don’t know what to look for in a leader, and according to a recent study by Chief Executive magazine many CEOs don’t seem to know what to look for either.

I was absolutely stunned to read the results of a survey published in the January/February 2014 edition of Chief Executive in which respondents (sitting CEOs) ranked the top 10 skills needed for effective leadership.  Following are the results in descending order of importance:

1. Adaptability to change                                60%
2. Strategic thinking                                        55%
3. Integrity                                                       48%
4. Very good communicator                            40%
5. Being trustworthy and open                        38%
6. Vision                                                          35%
7. Develops and fosters diverse teams           33%
8. Delegation                                                   28%
9. A positive mind-set                                      26%
10. High self-awareness                                    26%

If you’ve ever wondered why some CEOs seem disconnected, it might be worth putting the leadership traits they value under closer scrutiny. How does it make you feel knowing that many sitting CEOs don’t place much value on integrity, on being trustworthy and open, or on team building? Not very inspiring is it? Even more revealing is that the value placed on integrity, trustworthiness and transparency by respondent CEOs went down when compared to the 2013 survey results.

Here’s the thing – predicting the success of a leader isn’t really difficult to do; I’ve been doing it for years. Just examine what they value and their resolve to remain committed to said values. I’ve often said there is no reason to be surprised by a leader’s behavior unless you’ve failed to observe their character – I stand by this statement.

While often misunderstood and/or overcomplicated, at its essence, leadership is little more than a study in human behavior. Great leadership understands how to align people around a higher purpose and shared values to deliver on a clearly articulated and well-understood vision. They value people more than process, change more than status quo, and simplicity over complexity. 

The reality is the talent leaders attract, the teams they build, the culture they create, the vision they cast, and the results they achieve will always be closely tied to what they value.  Put simply, leaders deserve the outcomes they create.

It would be unfair for me to comment on the survey results without putting forth what I believe is a better prescription for effective leadership. So following are my recommendations for points of emphasis if you’re serious about being a more effective leader:

1. Integrity/Character/
2. Values/Vision/Culture
3. Brand/Engagement
4. Leading change/disrupting mediocrity
5. Adaptive creative thinking and problem solving
6. Talent/team building
7. Listening
8. Focus on simplicity
9. Organizational/market/self awareness
10. Servant’s perspective

If my list more closely reflects your values than the results of the Chief Executive survey, I’d encourage you to take a deeper dive by picking up a copy of my latest book Hacking Leadership (Wiley) as you may find some ideas you’ll find useful in transforming personal, team and organizational effectiveness.  The good news is this – if you’ve ever felt like you don’t fit in it’s probably because you don’t, but that may not be a bad thing. Leaders attract what they value and reward, and if what your leadership values and rewards is more consistent with the Chief Executive survey results than my recommendations, trust me – you don’t want to fit in.

Mike Myatt,