Degrees of Strength

8/2/2019 Degrees of Strength

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degrees ofSTRENGTHtheinnovativetechniquetoaccelerategreatness

CRAIG W. ROSS & STEVEN W. VANNOYEdited by Drew M. Ross


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Wereinspiredbyleaderslikeyou,wholiveandleadin

Degrees of Strengtheachandeveryday.


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Chapter one

Rachel: The Quest for Responsibility

We dont have a chance.Honestly, thats what I thought when I arrived, Rachel recalled. Youd

expect dierent behavior rom leaders within a company this size. But i

theres one thing Ive discovered over the years . . . She stopped. Can we

be rank here?

Please do, I said.

Te single greatest issue in leadership is so ew people take responsibility.

I you cant get a team to speak up, act, and be accountable, youre not

going to win, Rachel said. Sure, when you get to this level, people are

proessional and have skills. But honestly, Im oen shocked at how

irresponsible people can be.

Its one o those key issues we hear about in our sessions with

organizations around the world, I said.

Rachel nodded at me. I Ive been successul at anything since I met

you, its supporting people in their move rom halearted eorts to

taking initiative, saying what needs to be said, and taking action. Tatorganizational mindset and capability shi changes everything.

I recognized this and asked, We hear dierent denitions o this. What do

you mean, halearted? (She looked at me with a ace that said, Really?)


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6 | Degrees of Strength - a-team preview

By halearted I mean theyre not all in. It means theyre not delivering

their true potential. It means theyre waiting or someone else to do or

say something beore they take responsibility. And it maniests itsel in

countless ways. For example, everyone wants the organization to succeed,but too oen that is translated to only i I succeed rst. Tey talk one team,

but then they dont share their resources because they ear their department

will be vulnerable and not look good.

Or, I used to see this: Success doesnt mean the team wins it means

achieving your department or career objectives. When thats the denition

o success, it results in ew people willing to make the tough decision thats

necessary or everyone to win. Because making that choice means standing

up, addressing the real and sometimes ugly acts about where we are right

now, and leading us in an improved direction even i that direction means

giving up a piece o your pie. And this requires people to be vulnerable.

I nodded and leaned orward. Teres that word: vulnerable. It can be

complicated. We hear leaders stating that its a necessary quality or growth

and yet other people distance themselves rom the idea.

Its certainly a double-edged word, Rachel said. Teres no way we want

our team thinking we will leave ourselves exposed to aws or liabilities. On

the other hand, we need people to be humble, to admit theyre not perect.

Not or the sake o ocusing on or allowing ourselves to be inadequate, butor the purpose o being able to take accountability.

As youve developed that ability in your team, what has it looked like in

action? I asked.


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Rachel thought or a moment, then said, In our meeting yesterday, Luc

youll get to meet him later he interrupted me and said, Rachel, beore we

deploy, I think we should run one more round o tests. Im not condent

we received accurate data with the earlier series. And then he added, Iapologize. And I promise well improve the testing.

It takes skill to seize a remarkable leadership opportunity thats presented

in such a way, I said.

Count me as one who used to be blind to such moments! Lucs team is

responsible or making sure the tests are accurate. In the past, I would have

vented my rustration with him another round o testing would delay

our ability to hit target. She laughed slightly, But there he was, being

vulnerable and providing ull inormation, which ultimately would set us

up or greater success. o seize the moment, I had to see the strength in his

action and the situation and leverage it so wed create greater accountability

moving orward.

As I expected, Rachel was thinking about and perorming in her role

as divisional president dierently rom when I saw her last. As is done

with all the leaders whove been immersed in the Degrees o Strength

technique, I was returning months later to support her teams integration

and sustainability o the skill. Given what shed just shared about how she

addressed Lucs perormance, I made a note to mysel: Later, as I spent timewith other members o her team, I would be curious to see i those around

her interpreted her changed leadership approach as so. Would they think

that Rachel was letting Luc o the hook? Would she be perceived as not

ensuring people were accountable?

rachel: The Quest for Responsibility


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Rachel seemed to read my mind. Accountability is an individual choice.

Youre not going to get ar mandating it, she said. And its my job as the

leader to improve Lucs ability to make greater choices, as well as create the

environment that encourages those choices.

Tats terric awareness, Rachel, I said. Its indicative o a paradigm

rom which we see the most eective leaders unction. Tey resist the idea

o trying to change people or rushing out in ront o the team with a ag

yelling, Charge! Were going to change! Instead, they create the conditions

and an environment, as you say, or people to be great.

Tats an important distinction, Rachel replied. When a culture has

been established where a persons reputation has become more important

than his or her character and values, youre going to have problems. It

results in people not doing or saying the things that will expose them to

the burden o blame or some potential error in judgment. Te instant

teammates choose not to be all in by withholding inormation or eort,

they marginalize their value to the organization. In that second, they oreit

their potential and whats possible because theyve moved rom wanting to

do their best to wanting to remain sae in the environment theyre in.

Tis means, o course, that its not really about the team aer all, I said.

Its about their personal saety. And when people act on their own sel-

interest, the organization underachieves. Tis is a common comment onour pre-session surveys.

Rachel shrugged her shoulders. But you cant blame people. Tis is what

I see many o my peers doing bemoaning how no one is accountable,

how no one is stepping up. And rankly, thats where I have a lot o work to


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do. Ive got to partner with the other divisional heads so they realize that

they need to step up as leaders and equip their team with the skill to be

responsible. Complaining, pep talks, and rhetoric wont change how their

team is behaving.

An organization cant sustain a winning trend, cant expect people to be all

in, to give their best every day, only or a paycheck. Rachel sat back and

laughed. In so many cases, companies have trained people to pursue the

carrot o a bigger paycheck or the corner ofce, which means the company

then nds itsel saddled with the burden o a huge payroll and thin

margins. But they lack the one thing that will deliver exceptional, timely

products to their customers: an inspiredworkorce, led by inspired people.

Yes, and the transormation . . . is all I could say beore she cut me o.

Its a act: I youre going to win in the market today, you have to equip

your team members with the tools and the mindset that allows them to live

the values prized by them and the organization. Doing so provides them

with the oundation to act now rather than later. When you do that, watch

out: Youre going to see serious acceleration.

Given how hard youve worked on this approach, what does that look like

to you now, to allow them to live their values? I asked.

Hey, people dont get out o bed each morning wanting to be irresponsible.

Nobody wakes up and says, I cant wait to screw things up or everybody!

Rachel said with a mock smile. People dont want to go slow. Tese are

good people were talking about. Intellectually, everyone gets it. But living

and leading rom your values is not an intellectual exercise. Its a unction



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o your emotions and your companys culture. For example, most people

have the desire to serve others. But i you dont put tools and a system in

place or people to be emotionally intelligent together, the desire rarely

transorms into action. Tis is when things begin to break down. And weall know how bad it can get.

I recalled the rst discussion Id had with Rachel. I believe you told me

once that you and the team delivered results despite yourselves.

Rachel nodded. I remember that conversation, she said and then paused.

You know, Im compelled to share some inormation with you now that

I didnt tell you beore. It will help put into greater context how much

progress weve made.

I set my pen down and sat back.

Aer I had been in this position or about a year, she continued, there

was a dening moment or this team. My boss was pushing us hard, and

between you and me, placing unreasonable demands on us. I think theres

a moment in every teams liecycle when its severely tested and the team

has to decide: Are we going to do this thing? Are we going to be responsible

and succeed? Because i were not, its going to be toilsome or all o us and

probably end painully.

o make matters worse, my predecessor was like a terrorist pardon the

expression. Rachel shied nervously in her chair. I probably should nd a

better term to describe him. Its just that in his drive to succeed, because he

was always ocused on problems and talking consequences, he injected ear

into the organization. People were running around here looking over their


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shoulders, avoiding the obvious, not saying what needed to be said nor

doing what needed to be done.

Dont get me wrong, though. People were working harder than they everhad, but our productivity wasnt improving. Te issue wasnt a lack o eort

it was a breakdown in our values-to-action capability. She paused and

then added, It was a breakdown in our responsibility to ourselves.

And you know, Rachel said as she looked out her window, I got sucked

into it. For a while, I oreited my values, set them aside. I became so driven

bywhathad to be done that I valued the outcome more than the method by

which we got there. I began to rationalize my poor behavior: I Im going to

be treated this way, then thats how Im going to treat people. It got so bad

that when they told us about the drop in our employee engagement index, I

coldly replied that those numbers would improve as soon as we returned to

protability. Rachel shook her head. I elt justied or leading like a pain

in the you know what.

I was deeply sympathetic. Her reaction to the intense pressures o the

corporate world was normal. But she had survived and broken through to

an improved approach. She could now speak clearly o the deep personal

costs o winning in the short term by destroying that which is necessary or

sustained growth: people . . . and the expression o greatness that resides in

each o us.

Tats about the time I almost lost what I cherish the most. Rachel turned

her gaze rom the window and cleared her throat. It was the middle o the

week. I got home aer my husband and the kids had nished dinner. I had

the usual insane amount o communications to complete, and there was a


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report my boss needed that was giving me heartburn. I snapped at the kids,

told them to clean up aer themselves, and started or my computer. Tings

cascaded, one thing aer another. My son said an awul thing about his

sister and, o course, she had to respond with venom.

So I yelled at them really loud. And I was going to yell more when my

husband spoke up and said, Tats enough.

I thought he was talking to the kids. But when I looked at him, I knew in

an instant it was me. Rachel looked at her hands. And he was right. It was

enough.

Tat night my husband and I talked about what wed been thinking but

not saying. Te job, my work, was costing too much. Te way we were

living our lives was taking a toll that couldnt be paid. I was out o energy.

And as I thought about my relationship with our kids . . . Rachel shook her

head. How had I lost a proper perspective? When did I get so deep into

this thing that it began consuming me?

Our rst solution was or me to quit my job. We dreamed a bit about

what it might be like to simpliy everything, but that was an empty antasy.

Something told us that quitting wasnt right. Tere were so many things

about our lie that we loved. We enjoyed the liestyle, and it was the rst

time I admitted this I reallylikedthe vision I had or my work. I told my

husband there were aspects o leadership that were very ullling or me. Ijust didnt like how I was leading.

I didnt sleep that night, she said. In the morning, my husband looked at

me over his coee cup and suggested I call his uncle, Will. Perhaps hed have


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some ideas. Rachel gestured toward me. And you know the story rom

there, though I suspect you dont call him Uncle Will, do you?

I laughed. Will had been a client or years. As a CFO, hed transormed twoorganizations with his innovative leadership style beore retiring. No, I

dont call him Uncle Will, but I am honored to consider him a riend, I

said. When I met with Will recently and told him Id be seeing you again,

he mentioned that he ondly recalled his conversation with you.

It was the most important call Ive ever made, Rachel said. I described

how tired I was, how miserable our amily was, and how hard the team wasworking yet only accomplishing mediocre results. I shared my rustrations

and how I just knew the team especially I was capable o doing so much

more with our numbers.

Aer listening, this man I didnt really know did something I didnt expect:

He congratulated me. He said, Youve reached the point everybody gets to.

Its when you decide i youre going to change how youre creating change.

I guess my reaction was deensive, she said. I shot back to clear the

record o how there were others involved.

Yes, he said. But will you be responsiblefrst? he asked. Or will you

continue to be a victim o the illusion that you can change others without

changing yoursel and how you lead rst?

Everything was quiet or a moment. Rachel smiled at me and said, I have

to tell you, initially I was put-o by his comment. He was telling me what I

knew was true but didnt want to hear: I was responsible or the experience

I was having and the results I was delivering.



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Ten he asked me, So, have you made a decision yet?

With that, we launched into a conversation I should have had a long time

ago. And as we talked, he did something Id never experienced beore: Heassisted me in answering the question o my own responsibility . . . Rachel

paused as she searched or the right words . . . by pulling something rom

me that I vaguely recognized but had orgotten over the years.

What was that? I asked.

Its the story about me that I stopped believing, she said. As I spoke, I

began to eel a condence that Id orgotten about.

I sat still or a moment, watching Rachel search or her words, and then

asked, Condence to do what?

o start moving orward again. I began to remember that I am bigger

than the circumstances in my lie. Im bigger than late reports. Im bigger

than production and quality issues. Im bigger than kids ghting. She

shrugged her shoulder. Im a bit embarrassed to say these things, because

intellectually I knew all this. I just needed someone . . . She chuckled.

I just needed someone to remind me, to ask me the right questions so

I could return to the condence necessary to do something about the

circumstances in my lie.

You said he asked you questions. What type o questions? I asked.

A specic type o question that immediately guided my ocus, generated

momentum, and provided clarity on how to move orward, Rachel

answered.


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At the end o that conversation, I asked Uncle Will, How did you learn to

do this? How did you learn to lead like this? And thats when he told me

about the one thing just one technique that changes everything. Tats

when he told me about Degrees o Strength.

Will introduced Rachel and me and we began immediately. I wasnt

surprised to learn that Will was using Degrees o Strength to serve others

in the transormation o their mindset and actions: He understood its

principle that it is impossible or a person to have less than zero o any

desired quality. And as you ocus on the Degrees o Strength that are

present in any given area you accelerate the development o that quality.

Rachels story also revealed that Will had used Degrees o Strength to orm

the questions he used to serve her. When people are asked such questions,

they experience a realignment o their perspective and a deeper

connection to whats important. Tey are better able to regain their ocus

and take the steps necessary to move rom clouds o chaotic conusion to

deliver the excellence they long to realize. Its very exciting to be part osomeones lie in this way. Like many, Rachel took to it with a erocity that

surprised amily and colleagues.

We havent wasted any time since we rst saw you, she said. From the

moment the team was introduced to this technique, we continue to advance

our collective capability, Rachel said. She sat back, I believe weve had our

acceleration moment.

Tats a new way o saying it. Why do you use that?

Its the moment we became responsible. Its when we really started to get

work done around here. Its when we decided to quit waiting or other



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people to change, or or the market or our resources to improve, or or our

customers to quit being so ckle, beore we acted. Basically, we stopped

waiting or things to be dierent than they are in any given moment beore

doing what needed to be done.

She sat up, smiled slightly, and then said, Personally, the acceleration

moment is when I became responsible or the experience I was having. I

took charge o my reactions to everything that was happening around me.

Tats when I began to enjoy my job again. I got back to that mindset where

work wasnt work. And when this happened . . . Rachels voice ell o.

You started getting better results? I asked.

O course, she said with a slow nod. But more importantly, I got my

amily back.


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Chapter one

Forward Focus Questions

What does all-in (i.e. be responsible, take initiative, speak up and say

what needs to be said, take action and be accountable) look like in

your organization?

What percentage o the time are you all-in? Your team? Your

organization?

What dierence would it make i you were all-in 10% more o the

time?

I your team was more all-in 10% more o the time?

What are your doing now to be all-in more o the time?

o create even more o an all-in approach on your team?

What is an example o when you or someone on your team took

accountability you were vulnerable and it allowed your team to

move aster and with better results?

How are you leading that creates the environment where people can

be accountable and vulnerable?

Rachel supported Luc in being vulnerable and taking accountability.

How is her approach dierent than letting Luc o the hook? What

dierence does Rachels approach make?


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Chapter two

Case Study: Changing the Approach to Change

Rachel had quickly grasped the role o an Accelerator.Whats more, i her team can coordinate and align, they have the potential

to be another worst to rst case study: taking their organization rom

muddling in the nowhere lane to setting the standard or their company

or industry.

Accelerators earn this name because theyre about speed with

connotations o efciency, brevity, ocus, and the ability to deliver

something sooner than otherwise possible. In short, Accelerators get

those around them to the point o realized potential quicker. As in the

chemistry o mixing adhesive, an accelerator is oen added to quicken

the dry time; thereore, its a catalyst or producing a nished product in

a aster time. Tis enhances stability. Additionally, an accelerator inhibits

other elements rom interering. Tis stability yields prots and is thebackbone o the change eort.

Leaders who are Accelerators transorm what people can do. Tey do this

everywhere they go, in every interaction: emphasize the mosteective

method o improving perormance immediately and long term. And

the most eective technique is to leverage the Degrees o Strength that are

present in every person and situation.

Accelerators can be ound at every level within your organization,

inuencing others vertically and horizontally. Furthermore, not all those in

leadership positions are Accelerators. But, they can learn to become one.


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What does it look like when leaders and their teams use Degrees o

Strength to transorm perormance? Because Accelerators dont boast,

well brag or them: Meet Rich, a senior-level leader o a multinational

corporation. Rich ound himsel in Geneva, Switzerland, aer hiscompany purchased its largest European competitor.

Te line o sight to success was clear to me, he said. But so what i

the project leader can see what needs to be done? Nothing signicant is

going to happen until everyone is tightly aligned on the same vision, has

the oundation o trust, and is communicating well. So creating the right

environment or change became the immediate priority.

Rich has long understood the power o an inspired workorce. He and I

have talked about how its magic is ar removed rom direct orders and

monetary baiting. His new leadership situation was about integration and

developing an ownership mindset qualities beyond the limits o old-

school, top-down leadership methods.

o be honest, this was a stretch assignment or me. We had an

organization where leaders were coming rom seven dierent countries.

Forget about the personality dierences we all saw our world

dierently! Immediately, we ocused on leveraging our collective know-

how so we could create a new culture.

Our mission was to align our two companies so we could optimizeoperations and capture the synergies we had committed to the

corporation. Tis meant merging twenty o our current manuacturing

plants with the nineteen acquired plants, along with all the support

unctions. And, o course, during this entire time we had to service and

satisy our customers.

case study: Changing the Approach to Change


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We had committed to three-year targets to complete many o

these programs. Te pressure to perorm was unlike anything I had

experienced beore in my career. My rst impulse was to move too ast

and use the outdated deault approach by telling the team:

Heres the vision. (ranslation to team: I dont care what you see.)

I have the solutions. (You dont.)

Heres what you have to do. (What youre doing isnt working.)

And heres why we have to get it done. (Your priorities are less

important.)

While oen a natural impulse, the liabilities o this old leadership style

are well documented. Rich and other Accelerators call it the degrees o

weakness approach because it tells the team Youre not capable. You dont

possess the strength necessary to succeed. High-perormance leaders

know this is the polar opposite mindset with which they want their teams

approaching their job. (Youre not capable . . . now go orth and be

responsible.)

How do you change peoples thinking their mindset? You tell them

what to think and do, right? he said. Because this approach is so

common, its tempting to all prey to using it. I still slip occasionally and

try to persuade others with my righteous and rational thinking, Rich

laughed. But my wie will tell you that my success rate with that method

is zero.

Instead o blasting them with the we bought you mentality, Rich

deliberately practiced restraint. I knew i we were going to ask these

leaders to respond to a changing business model, then wed rst have to be

clear on expectations, include them in the process, and make them part


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o building the uture. Also, i we were going to drive this extraordinary

change, wed have to change how we were all showing up or work. And i

youre going to change behaviors, you have to aect the mindset.

At that point, Rich was in the leadership moment when a person can

change the trajectory o an entire organization. We had to change how

we approach change. Equipping the leadership team with the skill to be

able to do this made the dierence. Immediately and together we

moved to:

Heres the vision . . . What do we together see and believe is possible? Heres what we have to accomplish . . . What are we collectively doing

thats already working, and what eorts created that?

Tese are the solutions we see rom our perspective . . . What

experience, wisdom and ideas within the region can we better leverage?

And heres why we have to get it done . . . Why, at a local level, do you

want to see this plan succeed?

Te contrast between these two approaches hardly requires explanation.

Te rst approach is like an impersonal recorded voice through a

bullhorn. Te second approach is where Rich uses the Degrees o

Strength technique. Tis allows the employees to leverage their successes

and use their hard-earned experience in developing the vision and action

to move orward, accelerating rom you vs. me to us and team.

Ive always believed that the best leadership is seless. o get the results

the company wants, the ocus must be on the people perorming the

work, said Rich. When you acilitate their greatness, you bring the best

people have to oer into their everyday actions. And when this happens

you not only get up the mountain, you can move the mountain.

case study: Changing the Approach to Change


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Tis is what Richs team did. Tey succeeded by delivering beore the

time targeted, and the rewards came in more ways than just positive

numbers. Around the holidays, we went to tour a plant, Rich recalled.

Tere in the entryway was a ag with our company logo ying next totheir country ag. Te entire team was there and greeted us with smiles

and handshakes. I knew then: We were making a dierence. Te company

culture was evolving.

As this book was being written, a call came rom a client who is a VP

or a large ood and beverage company. Her words reveal even more

clearly why Accelerators are able to transorm what people can doby using Degrees o Strength: Greatness the ability to think and

do extraordinary things resides in each o us. We know that about

ourselves. But what remains necessary or organizations to perorm

signicantly better is or more people to know that this act is also true

about the people around us. Teres incredible potential within everyone.

Tereore, whats needed is a construct, a way o seeing and being in

everyday interactions that allows us to live and lead with that greatness

more consistently. Tat tool is Degrees o Strength.

Imagine a day when more leaders have the skill to lead their teams to

greater results in a way that enriches the lives o every team member.

Tis is the promise o Degrees o Strength: It develops capabilities and

perormance aster than anything else because its a mechanism to call the

potential that so many mistakenly think resides outside o people or in

the uture . . . into now, into reality.

(Why wait to be great when we can be great now?)


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Chapter TWO

Forward Focus Questions

What does the term accelerator, as it is used here, mean to you?

What are your initial ideas or how you are an accelerator?

What are 2-3 areas in which you would like to become a stronger

accelerator?

What creates the right environment or change? What are the

qualities o the right environment?

What is a mindset?

What dierence does it make when a team has an ownership

mindset?

How does this mindset change the results an individual or team can

create?

From your perspective, what is the relationship between mindset and

behaviors?

What strategies do you currently use to inuence and evolve your

teams mindset? Whats working?

From your perspective, what makes the questions on page 22 distinctand more eective than the approach on page 21?

What evidence do you have that everyone around us has greatness

the ability to think and do extraordinary things in them?


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Degrees of Strength