1SUP-L03 Essential Leadership Skills

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Leadership

Money

Lead

Conversion

Lead

Generation

Marketing Manageme

Clien

Fulfillmen

Essential Leadership SkillDeveloping leadership in yourself and othe


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Copyright 1999, 2005 by E-Myth Worldwide. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or trans-mitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storageand retrieval system, without permission in writing from E-Myth Worldwide.

Essential Leadership Skills

Developing leadership in yourself

and others

SNAPSHOTMastery Impact!

Supplemental Module: EffectiveLeadership and Communication Skills

Business Development Process: 1SUP-L03

There are no bad soldiers under a good general. Anonymous

A Business Development Publication of

E-Myth WorldwideTM

Putting the Pieces Together

Santa Rosa, California, USA

Managers have skills of

two kinds: leadership

skills and managerial

skills. You must balance

the two to be fully

effective.

Leadership should occur

at every level of yourorganization. Everyone

can exhibit leadership,

but must act within his or

her scope of account-

ability and must respect

the organization and its

lines of communication.

Leadership skills tend to

b e more ins ti nc ti ve ,

m or e i nt ui ti ve , l es s

logical, and more emo-

tional than managerial

ski ll s. Some b el ieve

leadership is innate andc an no t be le ar ned,

but thats not true.

Leadership can be

developed.

Overview

Leadership isnt about

style. Its about substance.

Style is personality and

appearance. Substance is

knowing what to do, how

to do it, and influencing

others to get it done.

The first step in developingyour leadership skills is

to assess the skills you

have to determine your

strengths and develop-

mental needs. Then you

can focus on your needs

and create a development

plan for yourself.

Based on the combi-

nation of leadership and

managerial skills, there are

five types of managers:

the bureaucrat, the admin-

istrator, the professional,the cheerleader, and the

master.

Key Points

Professional

Cheerleader Master

Bureaucrat Administrator

Types of Managers

MANAGERIAL SKILLS

LEADE

RSHIP

SKILLS

LOW HIGH

HIGH

The 5 CoreLeadership Skills

Vision

Discrimination

Strategic Thinking

Commitment

Communication

The 5 CoreManagerial Skills

Supervision

System Development

Planning & Budgeting

Quantification

Information


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There are no bad soldiers under a good general.

Anonymous

LeadershipStyle or Substance?

At first glance, leadership looks like its simply a matter of style.But when you get to the core of it, leadership isnt about style atall. Its about substance.

Vision, action, and spirit. Theyre the essence of leadership.

They have nothing to do with style and everything to do with

substance.

Thesubstance of leadership consists of knowing what to do,

knowing how to do it, and influencing others to achieve it. Thestyle of leadership is a matter of personality. There are quiet,

low-key leaders as well as aggressive, charismatic leaders, and an

infinite variety of others. How effective they are depends how

well they carry out the substance of leadership.

Dont mistake style for spirit. Style is superficial. Style doesnt

create any vision, doesnt get anything done it just looks

goodor bad. Spirit is attitude, not just appearance. Energy, not

just motion. Caring, not just going through the motions.

Thesubstance of leadership can, and should, be systemized.

Leadership and Management: Whats the Difference?

Leadership and management are both concerned with achieving

results. Leadership determines the shape of things to come, what

results must be achieved on the way, and the path that will be taken

to get it all done. Management is concerned with doing it.

Management is getting results through people and systems.

Systems run the business, people run the systems, and managers

direct the people.

Effective leadership determines the results to be accomplished(the vision), creates the strategies for accomplishing them (the

actions), and inspires people to accomplish the vision through the

strategies (the spirit).

Being a manager doesnt automatically make you a leader. The

best managers are good leaders, but many managerspossibly

most managersarent very good leaders.

Essential Leadership SkillsDeveloping leadership in yourself and others

Mastery Impact!

Supplemental Module: Effective Leadership and Communication Skills

Business Development Process: 1SUP-L03 Page 1

What isLeadership?

Copyright 1999, 2005 by E-Myth Worldwide. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from E-Myth Worldwide.

Vision

Action

Spirit


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Whats the difference? The difference lies in the differences in the

abilities of managers. There are two kinds of abilities, or skills, that

managers displayleadership skills and managerial skills.

The Five Core Leadership Skills

Looking, for the moment, only at the leadership component of

management, you find that there are five core skills of effective

leadership. They are:

Vision The ability to formulate ideas about the

business or parts of the business; to understand

opportunities or the need for change; to create

a mental picture of what the business will be in

the future; and to articulate all of that clearly in

words and images. At the highest level, its the

creation of the entrepreneurs dream.

Discrimination The ability to see whats important, to

understand the available choices, and to make

sound, practical decisions. Discrimination is

free-form decision making rather than rule-

based decision making. Its knowing what

questions to ask, and being able to answer them

in the absence of rules or previous experience.

Strategic The ability to see the big picture and devise an

Thinking effective paththe right actionsthat will

lead to realizing the vision. Inventing the

rules of your game. Creating your business

philosophy and key policies.

Commitment The determination and energy to follow

through and make the vision a reality even in

the face of obstacles, opposition, uncertainty,

and risk.

Inspirational The ability to communicate the vision and the

Communication strategy, and also to infuse the organization

with enthusiasm, dedication, and some of the

leaders own spirit.

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The 5 CoreLeadership Skills

Vision

Discrimination

Strategic Thinking

Commitment

Communication


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The Five Core Managerial Skills

There are five core managerial skills:

Supervision of The ability to get work done through peopleand systems. Observing and measuring

performance and results and coaching people

to improve. Relating to people in productive

ways. Making operational decisions within

guidelines. Being accountable for results.

System The ability to develop, implement, monitor,

and innovate systems. Seeing what needs to

be done, how to do it, and what resources are

needed. Using the Business Development

Process (Innovation, Quantification, and

Orchestration) at the tactical, operating level.Seeing how to organize and operate tasks and

resources cost-effectively.

Planning and The ability to break strategy down into the

tactical and operating activities needed to reach

an agreed-upon set of results. The ability to

understand resource requirements and

determine revenues and costs before the fact.

Quantification, The ability to determine the key indicators of

any system, organizational unit, or task; to

quantify them; to monitor them; to interpretthe resulting information and use it for

operational decision making.

Informational The ability to communicate clearly to others

especially reporting employeesinstructions,

systems, policies, the business strategy, and

anything else required in order for work to be

done and results achieved. This type of

communication is factual, operational, rational,

dispassionate, and oriented on work and results.

Finding the Balance

Its easy to see, and your own experience surely confirms, that

some people are stronger in leadership skills, some in managerial

skills. Many are weak in both areas, and very few are strong in

both. You probably have some ideas about your own leadership

and managerial strengths and weaknesses.

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People and

Systems

Development

Budgeting

Monitoring, and

Evaluation

Communication


The 5 CoreManagerial Skills

Supervision

System Development

Planning & Budgeting

Quantification

Information


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Balance is important for your business. The business needs a

balance of leadership and managerial skillsso much the better

if you and each of your managers is also individually balanced.

Why is balance important? Because your business is anintegrated organism. If the business has too little leadership, or

too few managerial skills, or if one overpowers the other, the

business itself becomes unbalanced.

Its much clearer if you think of the behavior of your managers

and how they need both leadership and managerial skills to do

their jobs in the most effective way. For instance, look at four

areas of focus for managers: decision making, communicating,

the time span of their attention, and their thinking habits.

Decision making. The decision making of a pure leader is free

form, unconstrained by rules and the past. The leader creates thequestions and alternatives, and makes decisions by criteria

appropriate to each decision. A pure manager makes rule-

based decisions that follow strict, explicit criteria and processes.

A business needs the ability to make decisions both ways.

Communicating. Leadership skills tend to result in inspirational

ways of communicating, painting a clear picture of the future,

generating commitment and energy, and motivating others to

strive to achieve the vision. Managerial skills tend to result in

informational communications that emphasize clarity, accuracy,

detail, and commitment to achieving results in the present. A

business needs both kinds of communication.

Time span of attention. Leadership skills tend to be future

oriented, with a firm grasp on the present as the foundation and

the jumping off point for the future. Managerial skills tend to be

oriented on the present, with a strong awareness of experiences and

precedents grounded in the past. A business needs both views.

Thinking habits. You can never know what goes on inside

someone elses mind, but behavior and language give us hints.

Generally, leadership thinking seems to be more intuitive,

holistic, integrated, big picture, and out of the box.

Managerial thinking patterns seem to be more linear, logical,

analytical, and detailed. They can both be focused, creative,

strategic, proactive, and pragmatic, but theres a more free-form

pattern to leadership thinking and a more process-based pattern

to managerial thinking. Businesses need both ways of thinking.

The point of all this isnt to be the final word about defining

leadership and managerial skillsnot even psychologists and

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management gurus agree on thosebut to point out that

theyre very different skill sets and businesses need both to

survive and prosper.

Are Managers Leaders?

Theoretically, its possible for someone to be a manager, yet have

no leadership skills, or to be a leader with no managerial skills.

In the real world, however, everyone who takes on management

accountabilities has at least some leadership skill and some

managerial skill or they dont last long in a management position.

To be effective, you must have some significant level of both

leadership and managerial ability. Ineffective managers always

lack in one or both areas.

The Five Types of Managers

Its useful to classify yourself and your managers based on their

leadership and managerial skills. When you look at the skill

levels, you see five basic types of managers:

Master. A visionary manager who is unusually effective in getting

results, has an extremely strong sense of purpose and commitment,

and is able to infuse it into the organization and people around

him/her. Work gets done efficiently, systems are evolving rapidly,

theres progress toward a clear set of goals. Everyone knows

his/her role and why its important. The master manager is fast

track and high functioning in every sense.

Professional. A solid, competent,

reliable manager, capable in every way.

Balanced leadership and managerial

skills. Energetic, dedicated, efficient,

and effective.

Administrator. Efficient,

systemized, and documented.

Completes work quickly. Everyone

cooperates. But sense of purpose and

direction seem missing. Everyone is

busy but not inspired, and it all feels a

bit flat.

Cheerleader. Visionary, strategist, great communicator, but has

limited ability to convert ideas and energy into effective action.

The organization feels great and has wonderful ambitions, but

makes little progress.

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Professional

Cheerleader Master

Bureaucrat Administrator

Types of Managers


MANAGERIAL SKILLS

LEADERSHIP

SKILLS

LOW HIGH

HIGH


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Bureaucrat. Minimally qualified for management. Either a

novice/apprentice just beginning to develop leadership and

managerial skills, or a marginally competent or incompetent

manager. Little or no vision or teamwork, little sense ofdirection, and slow or no progress. Just follow the rules and do

your work and everyone gets by. Its lifeless and feels stagnant.Levels of Leadership

Youre the primary leader of your business. Every manager at

every level in your business should also be a leader within the

scope of his or her organizational position and in accordance

with his or her position description.

You set the vision and the strategy for the business. Department

managers adapt your vision and strategy for their teams or units.

You inspire everyone in your business to understand and strive

to achieve your vision. Managers at every level inspire their

staffs by communicating your vision, emphasizing their part in

it, and adding their own energy and emphasis. Its all part of

management by agreement, delegation, and regulation.

In a healthy business, your technicians and workers can provide

leadership within their positions. They can formulate their own

visions for their positions, and create new ideas and strategies at

their level that, when properly developed with the support of

their managers, and when in alignment with the vision of the

business, can greatly enrich productivity and job satisfaction.

Theres even a cross-organizational kind of leadershipcall it

wild card leadershipthat occurs when someone in the

business sees opportunities and better ways of doing things in

other parts of the organization.

For instance, imagine an assembly worker in an automobile

engine assembly line who sees a problem in the assembly

process that could be cured by a parts design modif ication. He

knows whats needed and how it should be redesigned, a form of

vision; hes looked into it and is certain the redesigned part will

work and be cost-effective, showing discrimination and good

judgment; hes determined to do all he can, respecting organiza-tional lines and processes, indicating his commitment; and he

enthusiastically talks it up with his manager and others in the

business, evidence of inspiration.

Leadership can and should come from anywhere.

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Your managers and workers cant be allowed to implement

their own visions and strategies, but they can, through your

management processes, contribute to yours with their own ideas

and information. Once you communicate the vision and strategy,your employees can reinforce and support them with commitment

and determination. They can add their energy and adapt the

company vision and strategy to their own unit or team. The

result is leadership up and down the line.

THE LEVELS OF LEADERSHIP

Mastery Impact!




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CEO MANAGERS WORKERS WILD CARDS

VISION

DISCRIMINATION

STRATEGIC

THINKING

COMMITMENT

INSPIRATION

Business vision. Department or

function vision,

within the companys

business vision.

Position vision, within

the department

vision.

Vision of opportunities

across organizational

lines; ideas for

improvement in any

area.

Unlimited scope,

free-form decision

making.

Free-form decision

making, but within

the scope of the

department.

Within the scope of

the position and

within decision

making authority.

Usually can

recommend, notdecide.

Unlimited, but has to

respect organiza-

tional lines of

accountability and

due process.

Business strategy.

Industry-wide, world-

wide breadth. The

very big picture view

of the business and

its environment.

Department or

functional strategy,

consistent with the

companys business

strategy.

Committed to the

company vision and

supporting lower

level visions.

Self-inspiration,

company-wide

inspiration.

Committed to

company vision and

department

vision/strategy.

Self-inspiration,

department

inspiration.

Self-inspiration,

peer inspiration, and

support of managers

efforts.

Self-inspiration and

inspiration of allies

in bringing about

change.

Determined to do

his/her utmost to

bring about positive

change, but respect-

ing organizationalprocesses.

Any level of strategy,

but done with proper

coordination along

organizational lines.

Committed to

company and

department

visions/strategies.

Position strategy

consistent with

department

strategy.



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Leadership and Managerial Skills Assessment

If your business lacks both leadership and managerial skills,

then you need an effective way to assess the skills you and your

managers have, and a way to develop the skills that are missingor need improvement.

The first step is to assess the organizational and personal skill

levels in your business. You do that by assessing your own skill

levels and those of each of your managers, and considering them

as individuals as well as a part of your organization as a whole.

Skills assessment should be as objective as possible, though

there will always be some amount of subjectivity. How do you

objectively assess commitment or inspirational ability or

discrimination ability? Structure the assessment process to

be as objective as possible, and further examine your ownbiases and preconceived notions and do the best you can to

minimize them.

An excellent way to become more objective is the dual evaluation

process, in which a manager evaluates himself and his manager

evaluates him. Then they discuss the results. They do not arrive at

true objectivity, but reach an understanding about each others

views. Its that mutual understanding that forms the basis of a

workable development plan.

The assessment process that follows in the Worksheets reveals

your leadership and managerial strengths and weaknesses andeach of the managers you evaluated. It provides guidance for

creating individual skills development plans and for a company-

wide development plan.

The skills assessment results in a Skills Profile, which is a bar

chart showing a rating on a 10-point scale for each of the five

leadership skills and each of the five managerial skills. The ratings,

and a close look at each of the specific rating items within the

assessment instrument, tell you where your strengths lie and

where you could use some development. The assessment

instrument is provided at the end of this booklet.The Skills Profile on page 9 shows an example of a hypotheticalmanager who is stronger in managerial skills than leadership. Inplanning a development program for this manager, you wouldinitially focus on the leadership skills of inspirational communi-cation, vision, and strategic thinking.

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Developing Leadership Skills In Yourself and Others

Conventional wisdom holds that managerial skills are learnedbut leadership is innateleaders are born, managers are made.While its true that everyone has a unique set of aptitudes and

some come to leadership more easily than others, its also truethat leadership can be developed. Leadership systems can becreated so that leadership is built into an organization.

Leadership skills seem less tangible, less rational, more

instinctive, more intuitive than managerial skills and, therefore,

seem more difficult to teach and learn.

Though we may have greater or less aptitude for leadership

skills, they may be learned. Just like athletic performance, some

of us are gifted athletes, some of us are couch potatoes, but we

all can improve our athletic skills with training and development.

Most of us will never become modern day Napoleons,

MacArthurs, or Ghandis, but with attention and development all

of us can make huge advances in our leadership skills. Heres

an overview of the development techniques.

Vision has to do with imagination, creativity, developing ideas

in original ways, putting business components and strategies

together in new ways, and seeing the possibilities that exist or

could be made to exist. Its a free-form, unconstrained mental

activity that takes advantage of both logical and intuitive thought

processes.

To develop these skills, you have to let go of any ideas you might

have about how to think, be willing to go beyond your comfort

level and think outside the box, and suspend for the moment your

experience and preconceived notions about your business,

yourself, and the world around you.

Here are some activities to develop visionary skills:

Mastery Impact!




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Developing

Vision

Skills


10

5

Vision Discrimination StrategicThinking

InformationQuantificationPlanning/Budgeting

Commitment Inspiration Supervision SystemsDevelopment

LEADERSHIP SKILLS MANAGERIAL SKILLS

SKILLS PROFILE


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Periodic vision meetings. Meet with a small number of

people, maybe your managers, or one other trusted person.

Discuss your current vision, your strategy, andheres the

developmental partdiscuss the possibilities. Its more thanbrainstorming about the big picture. Ground rules are: no

criticism, no doubt expressed, and nothing is too ridiculous

to discuss. Push your ideas to the extreme, even to the

impossible, and force yourselves to consider how you would

make this impossible idea a reality. Even if you discuss

ridiculous ideas that come to nothing, the mental exercise

itself will build your visionary ability. But dont be

surprised at how often those impossible ideas become reality,

or lead you to other innovations and ideas that work.

Headlines in the news. A couple of times a week, scheduled

or randomly, look at a headline in the newspaper and forceyourself to think: What opportunity does that present for my

business? or How could I turn that situation to our

advantage? The idea is to force yourself to think about

connecting up ideas that normally have no connection, to see

things a new way. You could combine this with your vision

meetings to give them some momentum.

Dream drills. This one is silly, but it has a serious purpose

and a serious result. Dont brush it aside. Either alone or

with a person you trust, take a 5-minute break and fantasize

about your business. The trick here is to launch into thoughtsthat are truly fantasy, truly bizarre, in no way even remotely

like your real-world business, but with some connection to it.

You might imagine hiring unicorns to deliver your product on

flying carpets to dancing hippopotamuses with bank teller

machines imbedded in their stomachs. Or you might think

about animated lawn mowers parachuting from flying butterfly-

gorillas while throwing jelly beans at customers in your

stores. Yes, that silly. Push it. The more fantastic, the better.

The idea here is to push far beyond your usual thoughtprocesses, and to stimulate your unconscious mind with

far-out thoughts that have completely different emotionalcontent from your norms. Its a way to move outside yourmind and stimulate unconscious associations. No practicalideas may result from this, but youre strengthening yourvisionary muscles and broadening the span of yourthinking. Its not wasted time, and when you do it enoughto get past inhibitions, its fun.

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Written dream drills. This task is like the dream drills

above, but done in writing. The pace of your thinking slows

down to accommodate your writing speed. It seems like the

same exercise, but the act of writing changes your thinkingdynamic by keeping your mind focused on each passing

mini-thought for a bit longer, thus letting your unconscious

mind work on it in a different, more in-depth way.

The point of these visionary skill development exercises is to

break loose from your normal thought patterns to gain greater

access to your unconscious thought processes, yet keep enough

connection with your business to maintain your focus without

restricting your thinking.

Discrimination is another word for judgment or wisdom. We all

have discrimination skills but we diminish them with personal

biases, emotional responses, and our reactions to others.

Discrimination depends on claritywhen you see the situation

and its consequences clearly, youll have accurate perceptions

and youll make good decisions. You dont have to learn

discriminationyou already have it. The development you need

is learning how to be dispassionate and objective within yourself,

and not reactive to the presentations and persuasions of others.

The key is clarity. You have the ability to make wise choices

once you have a clear understanding of the situation and its

consequences.

The best way to eliminate emotion and bias in yourself and inyour reactions to others is to quantify everything. The problem

is that not everything can be readily quantified. At the level of

entrepreneurial leadership, where vision and strategy are key,

where youre often breaking new ground with little to guide you,

and where quantification can be especially shaky, discrimination

is especially important critical, in fact.

The development technique, as with visionary skill, is to break

old patterns and build new ones. You do that by forcing yourself

to think and react in new ways. At first it feels awkward, silly,

counter-intuitive, and just plain wrong. But as the development

takes hold, you find yourself with increasing clarity, decreasing

confusion, and greater equanimity in the face of strong emotions

from others and within yourselfthe confusion and emotion

are still there, but you simply see past them to the truth of the

matter. You cant help but make better decisions, strategies,

and innovations.

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Developing

DiscriminationSkills



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seeing the complete situation, and youre denying yourself a full

understanding of it. The purpose of forcing you to fully explore

the other side is, in actuality, forcing you to see allof the situation.

It might even be true that you have a complete understanding of

the situation, but you cant know that for sure until you explore the

other side thoroughly. Once you have the fullest, most factual,

most complete understanding of the situation, your discrimination

will lead you to wise, effective decisions.

Initially, you might have to do this privately, as a developmental

exercise, until you get the hang of it. But eventually, it will

become a habit of mind, something you do every time there seem

to be two sides to a situation. Its an important path to wisdom.

Strategic thinking is fueled by detail, but detail obscures strategy.

The trick is to immerse yourself in the details of your business

understand its dynamics thoroughlyyet be able to draw backand see the big picture and the leverage points of the business.

Think of it as a 5-part process:

Part 1Continually monitor the business horizon.

Your target markets

Your competition

The government

Macro-trends (the economy, social trends,technology, business trends)

For the most part, this means wide-ranging reading habits and

talking with knowledgeable people. It doesnt necessarily mean

studying everything in the press and buying all the reports that

come out. It does mean cultivating a healthy interest in whats

going on that might have an impact on your business, plus a

curiosity about whats going in the world in general. You never

know what trends might show up that look irrelevant but that

can evolve into an opportunity or a threat.

Part 2Immerse yourself in the details of your business.

Quantification and personal observation are the keys here. Notonly gather the numbers, but see whats going on. Get a feel for

the business.

Quantification is key, but its just the means for developing your

intuitive feel for the business. Statisticians understand standard

deviation, chi-squared tests, bell curves, and the like, but the

really good statisticians understand their work at a gut level.

They have a feel for their craft. Its the same for management

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Developing

Strategic Thinking

Skills



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and management information. The really good managers

develop an intuitive understanding of their numbersthe

numbers become invisible in a way, and the dynamics of the

business become visible. You dont hear the notes, you hear themusic.

Part 3Understand the dynamics of the business, financial

and operational.

How does it work?

What knocks it off course?

Know how your business flows. A well-run business has a

smooth, flowing feel to it. You can track the flow of your

business by looking at it from the viewpoint of your client.

The purchase decision chain is a good starting point

awareness, motivation (sense of need for your products),

product acceptance, brand preference, purchase transaction,

post-purchase experience. Then, with the clients experience

clearly in mind, trace through the various management

processes of the business. If you have been in your business

for a long time, its worthwhile to take a fresh look at it. Youd

be surprised how some things become invisible due to familiarity

or the assumption that you know them.

Part 4Know the leverage points of the business.

Where do you get the greatest effect for your actions?

Where is the business vulnerable?

This is the critical point for managers and the foundation for

strategic thinking. In every business, there is a hierarchy of

thingssystems, processes, contacts, communicationsthat

have an impact on the business. They can be internal or external.

They are the things you have to do right or the things you have

to manage well or the business suffers. Its a hierarchy because

some things have more impact than others.

The idea is to know your business so well, from top to bottom,

that all your leverage points are known to you. When you knowyour leverage points, you can fine-tune your information

gathering process to focus on them, thus fine-tuning your

management of your business.

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Part 5Back off and look at the big picture.

Diagrams and a review of your Strategic Objective can help.

Consciously avoid detailed descriptions of activities and

plans (that comes in the planning and execution stages of

management).

The details will swamp your perceptions and muddle your feel

for your business. Without the ability to pull back and take the

long view (big picture, long term), youll micro-manage and

miss the point. If it doesnt come easily to you, focus on the

high-impact leverage points and use such techniques as

diagramming, essence statements, and the 30-second sound

bite, forcing yourself to tell the whole story in 30 seconds, as if

you were on the evening news.

You cant practice being committed. And you cant fake it, either.

Youre either committed, or youre not. Its not something you can

role play or pretend. There arent even exercises you can do to

develop your ability to commit because exercises by their very

nature are pretend, not real. And commitment is real.

You can try to act out commitment, and maybe youre a good

enough actor to convince other people your commitment is real.

But if its not real, it, and you, will eventually falter. And when

you falter, its always at the very worst time, when the chips are

down, the pressure is on, and your resolve is being tested.

So, the idea is not to develop commitment skills, but to developtrue commitment itself.

Leaders are distinguished by their ability to forge ahead in theface of obstacles, opposition, uncertainty, and risk. Notfoolishly, but in the pursuit of a real visionone that is doableeven if it seems unlikely to others. So the way to commitmentis to test your vision.

Your sense of commitment is a barometer of the validity of your

vision and strategy. If youre not fully committed, maybe the

vision, or the strategy, is off, somehow out of alignment with

your Primary Aim, flawed in some way, or incomplete.The process of developing true commitment is to test yourcurrent level of commitment, making adjustments if necessary,maybe even abandoning the vision if you cant develop a truecommitment to it.

Test your sense of commitment by looking at the following:

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Developing

Commitment

Skills



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Your Primary Aim. Are the vision and strategy consistent with

your Primary Aim? Do they arouse in you the kind of fire your

Primary Aim inspires?

Obstacles. What obstacles can you foresee that might get in the

way? How serious are they? You dont have to foresee every

conceivable obstacle, and you dont have to know how to

overcome them. You just need to test your determination and

your sense that, come what may, you willovercome them.

Opposition. What opposition or resistance will you experience

from your employees, the competition, friends and loved ones?

You dont have to know how youll eliminate or overcomeopposition, but you do need to have the firm conviction that

opposition will not prevent the realization of your vision.

Uncertainty. Do you have doubts? Are you worried that thingsyou dont understand or cant anticipate will crop up and possiblyderail your vision and your strategy? Are you determined to dealwith them as they arise and, most importantly, are you confidentyou will be able to deal with them?

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DEVELOPINGCOMMITMENT

The Path to

SuccessBetter than going

ahead without full

commitment

Recipe

for Disaster

Strong Sense of

Commitment

Adjust Vision

and

Strategy

Abandon theVision; Try

Something

Else

Go

Ahead

Anyway

Weak Sense of

Commitment

Test your commitment to your vision

and strategy by looking at:

Your Primary Aim

Risks

Obstacles

Opposition

Uncertainty


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Risks. What personal and professional risks are you takingon? What will be the risks to your business? Risks can betangible, such as financial and competitive risks, and intangible,such as image and reputation. They can be personal, such as

embarrassment or personal financial difficulties, or professional,such as damage to your reputation or weakened confidence inyour abilities.

Youll have no difficulty imagining all kinds of obstacles,opposition, and risks. The point of this exercise is to bring theminto your conscious thinking and see if they diminish your senseof commitment. If they do, its likely to be a real sign that eithersomething isnt right with your vision and strategy, or that youdont have the determination necessary to lead the way toachieving your vision.

The best outcome of this exercise is that you confirm andstrengthen your commitment. Even if you abandon your vision

because youre unable to muster a true sense of commitment,

thats a far better course of action than launching a major

strategy thats doomed to fail for lack of determination.

This test of faith approach to developing your commitment

depends completely on your ability to be totally and brutally

honest with yourself. You can go through the motions but not

truly challenge yourself, and then proclaim your commitment to

one and all. But that course of action will catch up with you the

first time a serious obstacle or opposition appears and your

commitment, or lack of it, isnt strong enough to carry the day.Thats a recipe for disaster.

Make sure your commitment is real, or dont move ahead. Find

another vision to which you can commit.

Inspiration is emotional. Information is rational. If youre

going to inspire others to commit to your vision and your

strategy, youre going to have to communicate in ways that stir

emotions. You also have to communicate information, but there

has to be an emotional component to it or it wont be inspiring.

Unless youre a natural-born or trained motivational speaker,

you might think this skill is beyond your reach. But its not. So,

how do you go about inspiring your people with your communi-

cations about your vision and strategy? There are five things to

think about and understand, that will improve your ability to

inspire others:

Sincerityrealcommitment, and the realyou.

Opportunities and occasionswhen and where.

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Developing

Inspirational Communication

Skills



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Expressivenessmannerisms and energy.

Techniquescommunicating emotion and energy.

Enhancementsmaking it special.

Sincerity. Your commitment has to be real, and you have to be

willing to let people see your excitement and how important it is

to you. It has to be genuine. If you cant muster commitment

within yourself, you wont be able to inspire it in others. And

you cant fake it for more than a short time. When it comes to

inspirational communications, to paraphrase Abraham Lincoln,

you can fool some of the people for a short time, but you cant

fool all of the people all of the time. So, ifyoure not fully

committed, dont even try to elicit it from others.

Opportunities and occasions. The question is, When and

where should I be an inspired communicator?

The answer is: At every opportunity. One-on-one and in

groups. At business and socially. At scheduled events and in

casual encounters. When youre prepared, and when youre not.

At the office and on the street. There are very few occasions

when its notappropriate to reinforce your commitment and that

of your employees.

Expressiveness. When you communicate, facts are necessary,

but not sufficient. Feelings and emotions are key. You have to

put life into it. How do you do that? It comes naturally, and

you already know how.

We all do. Most of us just dont think of it as inspirational.

Have you ever told someone about your childs achievement?

Or gotten into a friendly argument about politics, morality,

sports, or raising children? You were almost certainly an

inspired speaker. You didnt merely explain facts, rather put

energy, emotion, conviction into it. You probably raised your

voice a bit, gestured more than you normally do, and were

more animated than usual. The person you were talking with

saw by your body language, your expressions, your energy

that you were saying something important. It doesnt matterwho won the argument; the point is that you were arguing with

all the mannerisms of inspirational communication. Your

companion in the conversation could see how important the

subject was to you and how committed you were to your vision

of the subject. You can be sure that you made quite an impression

on the other person.

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You werent a bit self-conscious about it, were you? You were so

into it that the importance of the subject and your commitment to

your point of view carried you. You were probably so absorbed

in the conversation you lost track of yourselfit was too importantto make your point, to get that other person to understand to

move him. Thats inspirational communication at its best

sincere, genuine, strongly felt, important.

You dont have to learn the mannerisms of inspirational

communication because you already use them whenever you tap

into something important to you and what, other than family

and spiritual beliefs, holds a higher level of commitment for you

than your vision for your business?

Techniques. There are a number of techniques you can use to

add energy and emotional impact to your communications, and to

tap into the unconscious minds and associations of your audience.

Here are some that should work for you:

Stories. Stories have life, action. They conjure images in our

minds and communicate excitement, emotion. We relate to

stories, whether fiction or fact, and theyre a great way to

make a point.

Emotionally-loaded words. Choose words that convey

excitement, energy, and involvement rather than neutral

words. Our strategy will enable us to doesnt sound as

good as Our strategy has the power to does it? Our

vision for the future will unfold if we work for it, doesnt

sound as compelling as, Our future will take a bold new

shape if we dedicate ourselves to it and make it happen.

Experiences and anecdotes. Anecdotes and experiences, like

stories, draw the listener/reader in, and make your points in

dynamic, compelling ways.

Images. Actual images (pictures, photographs) or imagined

images stimulated by words or sounds add energy and

unconscious associations to your communication.

Sensory elements. Colors and sounds add dimension andfurther energy to your words. Things such as banners, caps,

buttons, signs, and coffee mugs add further texture and

dimension, and also act as constant reminders.

Metaphors, analogies, symbols. The meanings associated with

some symbols, metaphors, and analogies add power and depth

to words and ideas. A simple symbol such as a star adds

strength and vibrancy to an idea. So do eagles, wild horses,



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lions, and any number of creature symbols. Make sure the

symbol adds to rather than detracts from your message.

Enhancements. There are also ways to add emphasis, intensity,

and impact to your communications, including:

Audio-visual aids. Simple signs and handouts, PowerPoint

presentations, and audio recordings add sound and visuals to

your message and increases its power and persuasion. They

also increase planning and production costs and requirements.

Drama. We all understand the power of drama, even in

simple forms such as skits performed by ourselves or our

employees, or role-playing dialogues.

Events and occasions. Company meetings, trainings,

excursions, or social occasions bring everyone together, and

are an excellent way to focus your communications. You

also benefit from a reinforcing effect when the participants

talk among themselves about your vision and strategy.

Creativity without Leadership Is Chaos

Much is said these days about creativity. Business owners want

to maximize the creativity of their organizations and all the

people in them. People say I want to be able to express my

creativity at work. Its one of those ideas people accept without

a second thought because it sounds right, it feels good. How

can creativity be a bad thing? It mustbe beneficial, isnt it?Not necessarily.

Unfettered creativity is a nightmare.

If everyone has license to use their creativity and make changes

as they see fit, you have a recipe for chaos. What you want is

leadership throughout your organization, not raw creativity.

Creativity without vision is random. Creativity without

discrimination is irresponsible. Creativity without strategic

thinking is confused. Creativity without commitment is wishful

thinking. And creativity without the right kind of communication

is like shouting into an empty room.

Theres nothing wrong with creativity, far from it. You want a

lot of creativity in your organization. But it has to be nurtured

and directed, or its wasteful and disruptive.

In other words, creativity without leadership is chaos.

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Worksheets


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INSTRUCTIONS:

Assess the skill level of the subject manager by circling the appropriate rating on a scale of 1 to 10, in which 1 means virtually no abilityin that particular skill and 10 means extremely skilled. A score sheet is provided at the end of this questionnaire (page 30). Rate all

items. If the item isnt clear or isnt exactly appropriate for the subject, make your best judgment, but do rate all items.

CAUTION:

Its extremely important to be completely honest in your ratings. The purpose of the instrument is to learn what kind of managerthe subject is, and to provide a basis for the development of managerial skills. Its easy to fool the instrument and paint a pic-

ture of the perfect manager. Dont do it. Its a waste of time and will be misleading unless your ratings are completely honest.

Subject name:

Position:

Date:

Assessment made by:

Self

Other (name)

Ability to think outside the box, innovate, create new ways of seeing

things. Not bound by conventional wisdom or the expectations of others.

Ability to imagine the shape of things to come, to formulate views of the

future.

Habit of seeing opportunities, possibilities, alternatives.

Ability to go beyond your own personal experiences, preconceived ideas,

and habitual ways of thinking.

Willingness to be thought of by self and others as out there, unconven-

tional, different, or unusual.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Vision

IMPORTANT:

Dont cluster your ratings at the middle of the range, push them toward the extremes. For example, if you think the subject is pret-

ty good at thinking outside the box, rather than giving him a rating of 5 or 6, give him a 7 or 8. If you think the subject is a bit

deficient in his ability to see whats important and unimportant in any situation, rather than give him a 4 or 5, give him a 3 or even

2. Pushing your ratings toward the extremes will give a much clearer profile than clustering them in the middle range.

DUAL ASSESSMENT:

You should assess yourself and also have someone who knows you well also assess you. Your manager probably has the best opinion.

Leadership Skills

Managers Skills Assessment Instrument


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Ability to identify opportunities, choices, alternatives.

Ability to see whats important and unimportant in any situation.

Ability to see all sides of an issue or debate, even when they conflict withyours; no tunnel vision.

Ability to understand the leverage points in any business or situation.

Ability to anticipate the probable consequences of decisions or actions.

Has good judgment, good decision making ability, doesnt need rules orguidelines to make good decisions.

Ability to quantify, and understand the meaning behind the quantification,

for all conditions that are quantifiable.Ability to set aside/not be swayed by emotions, personal biases, preconceivedideas from others.

Has independent judgment, not reactive to others, not influenced byshoulds; thinks for self.

Knowledge of markets, competition, the economy, technology trends, thebusiness environment, legal/regulatory requirements.

Ability to see the path to achieve the vision, and all significant alternativepaths.

Ability to think holistically; integrates all the elements of a decision orstrategy into a cohesive whole.

Ability to see the leverage points and vulnerabilities in any strategicdecision or situation; distinguishes the right action to take in any situationto attain desired results.

Ability to create and implement rules of the game, guiding principles, keypolicies, business philosophy.

Ability to immerse self in details of the business yet always keep the bigpicture in mind.

Ability to be grounded in todays work while at the same time keeping thelong-term goal/Strategic Objective in mind.

Ability to understand the business dynamics from the numbers; to gain afeel for the business, an intuitive understanding of it from quantification.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

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Discrimination

Strategic Thinking


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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Commitment

Inspirational Communication

Degree of determination to achieve the vision.

Ability to follow through a major task/project to full completion.

Ability to move ahead in the face of strong resistance, opposition,criticism.

Ability to tolerate and make effective decisions when there is significantuncertainty or doubt.

Ability to identify and understand obstacleseven if unanticipatedandovercome them.

Ability to identify risks and move ahead anyway; risk acceptance, notrisk seeking.

Degree of personal commitment to your own Primary Aim.

Sincerity; when you communicate about the vision and the strategy, thedegree to which you internally feel strongly, intensely committed.

Ability to communicate vision and strategy with clarity so that all canunderstand them fully.

Ability to communicate with emotional impact so that all can feel yourcommitment and intensity.

Ability to persuade others to your point of view.

Degree to which you want/desire others to see things the way you do.

Ability to create opportunities to talk about the vision and strategy;talking it up at every opportunity.

Ability to encourage creativity/vision in others.


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Orientation on results, not just work; takes responsibility for gettingdefined results.

Ability to detect signs of difficulty and problems and find solutions.

Attention to details in the operation of systems and in the work people do;pays attention to the small stuff.

Has productive, cooperative relationships with reporting employees; notadversarial; encourages open lines of communication; relationships basedon management by agreement.

Has comprehensive knowledge of business policies and procedures;

knows and follows rules of the game; makes decisions based on rules,policies, procedures; not a loose cannon.

Has a systems-oriented approach to management and problem solving;focuses on business conditions rather than blaming people; systems-dependent rather than people-dependent.

Works well across organizational lines; cooperative.

Develops staff effectively in business skills and operation of businesssystems; effective trainer of reporting employees.

Ability to evaluate people; makes good hiring and firing decisions.

Understands quality assurance and holds to high quality standards.

Ability to identify system solutions for business conditions, problems, andfrustrations.

Ability to identify and design tasks and benchmarks in a business system;creates appropriate operating rules and standards.

Ability to evaluate systems clearly and completely.

Documents systems clearly and completely.

Ability to innovate systems; can determine systems needs or modificationsto get desired results or improve operations.

Implements systems and makes changes effectively, with minimal disruptionof work flow and minimal stress for staff.

Attention to detail in system design and implementation.

Optimizes/conserves resources used in systems.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Supervision

Managerial Skills

System Development


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Ability to forecast revenues, volume of business, activity levels.

Ability to set appropriate goals, define appropriate benchmarks, establishappropriate expectations for accountabilities.

Ability to translate strategy into effective business plans and activities;defines work to be done to achieve his/her part of the vision andStrategic Objective.

Ability to estimate and forecast costs, labor hours, resource requirementsand translate into budget.

Controls costs and resource utilization effectively; appropriate costcontrol (neither overspends nor reduces productivity by being overlyaggressive on cost controls).

Understands the management implications of budgeting and budgetvariance analysis; uses financial information to understand the businessoperation and for decision making.

Thinks ahead responsibly; doesnt shoot from the hip but also no paralysisby analysis; has effective balance of action and planning ahead.

Comfortable with quantification; not afraid of numbers; sees quantificationas a way to look at the business objectively and gain clarity.

Ability to determine key indicators of any system and any organizationalposition and how to quantify them; knows whats important and whats not.

Ability to understand what the numbers mean; how quantification revealsunderlying business conditions and leads to diagnosis and innovation.

Monitors and evaluates systems and productivity effectively; tracks

quantified information frequently/continually for complete understandingof his/her part of the business.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

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Planning and Budgeting

Quantification


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Places high priority/importance on communicating with reportingemployees, peers, managers; keeps them informed, up to date.

Clarity of thought; understands the vision, the strategy, and the business;grasp of details as well as big picture.

Oral communication skills; appropriate vocabulary; clear expression; getsideas across so theyre completely understood by the listener.

Written communication skills; appropriate vocabulary; clear expression;gets ideas across so theyre completely understood by the reader.

Creates and maintains operating manuals, position contracts, and otherdocumentation.

Detects and clears up misunderstandings immediately.

Communicates with appropriate energy and tone; enthusiastic, optimistic,caring; minimal anger, frustration, or apathy.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

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Informational Communication


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Leadership Skills

Vision __________ 5 = __________

Discrimination __________ 9 = __________

Strategic Thinking __________ 8 = __________

Commitment __________ 7 = __________

Inspirational Communication __________ 7 = __________

Managerial Skills

Supervision __________ 10 = __________

System Development __________ 8 = __________

Planning & Budgeting __________ 7 = __________

Quantification __________ 4 = __________

Informational Communication __________ 7 = __________

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Rating Summary

10

5

Vision Discrimination StrategicThinking

InformationQuantificationPlanning/Budgeting

Commitment Inspiration Supervision SystemsDevelopment

PROFESSIONAL SKILLS MANAGERIAL SKILLS

SKILLS PROFILE

Total Score

Number of

Ratings Skill Rating

Total Leadership Skills Rating =

Total Managerial Skills Rating =

=

Mark each bar with your rating for that category to profile your strengths and development needs.


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TOTA

LLEADERSHIP

SKILLS

RATING

Manager Typing Graph

50

40

30

20

10

00 10 20 30 40 50

TOTAL MANAGERIAL SKILLS RATING

PROFESSIONAL

CHEERLEADER

ADMINISTRATOR

MASTER

BUREAUCRAT


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Leadership Skills Development Plan

1List your lowest rated leadership skill categories in order, with the lowest listed first. For each,

look at the responses in your assessment instrument and see what they indicate about your specif-ic development needs. Note your conclusions briefly under observations and conclusions.

Skill Category

and Rating Observations and Conclusions


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Essential Leadership SkillsPage 32

2 Re-read the skills development guidelines on pages 920, paying special attention to the areas ofyour developmental need.

3Study your specific responses from your Managers Skills Assessment Instrument (including

those completed by others). Determine which developmental activities you will use to developyour skills. In the table below, indicate the activities, set a schedule/timing for doing them, and

indicate what assistance you will have.

Its important to have a friend or trusted associate help you with the developmental activities

theyll be more objective than you will about your progress, and will have insights, make suggestions,

and provide support that you wont be able to provide for yourself.

You can work on one skill at a time, or several at the same time. You should consider leadership

skills development a long-term effort. Some develop the skills quickly (months), but most will

improve over a period of years. And, no matter how skilled you are, you can always improve.

Be sure to schedule your developmental activities on your appointment calendar. Dont merely tryto fit them into my spare time. If you dont schedule them, they wont get done, and youll make

no progress.

Activity Schedule/Timing Assistance From