Strengths-Based Leadership Development System · Strengths-Based Leadership Development System 2 Copyrighted Material. Please do not reproduce without permission. Discussion Overview

Strengths-Based Leadership Development System

1

Copyrighted Material. Please do not reproduce without permission.

www.ClemmerGroup.com

Revolutionary Leadership Development That Doubles Learner Motivation

Would you like to leaders…

• Triple their likelihood of creating an excellent personal development plan?

• Double their rate of improvement from 360 feedback?

• Report a 50% higher rate of addressing specific personal development issues?

• Increase their time and effort put into personal development by 30%?

“In a recent survey of CEOs and senior executives, 76 percent cited leadership development as important,

yet only 7 percent thought their organization was doing it effectively.”

“You cannot build performance on weaknesses. You can build only on strengths.

To focus on weakness is not only foolish; it is irresponsible.

It is a misuse of a human resource,

what a person cannot do is a limitation and nothing else.”

Peter Drucker (1909 – 2005), author of 39 books and hundreds of articles on leadership, management, and organization effectiveness. Widely considered to be the father of “modern management.”


2



Discussion OverviewZenger Folkman Background/Relationship

1. Evidence-Based Leadership Development

2. Leveraging Leadership Strengths

3. Critical Components of a Best-In-Class 360 Assessment

4. Cross Training: A Revolutionary Approach to Developing Strengths

5. Wrap up

ZF Founders: Leading with Strength

John “Jack” Zenger, D.B.A. Co-founder andChief Executive Officer

– Renowned expert in the field of leadership development

– CEO of Zenger-Miller, President of Provant

– Human Resources Development Hall of Fame

– ASTD Lifetime Achievement Award, 2011

Joseph Folkman, Ph.D. Co-founder and President

– Renowned psychometrician and authority on assessment and change

– Founding partner of Novations Group, Inc.

– Author/co-Author of 7 books and dozens of publications

Founded in 2003 to revolutionize leadership and organization development through empirical research.

Evidence-based methods leveraging existing strengths. Comprehensive system including assessment

instruments, development programs and executive coaching.

Leveraging research and methodologies found in The Extraordinary Leader, The Inspiring Leader, The Extraordinary Coach, and How to Be Exceptional.

Consulting, customizing, and integrating strengths-based leadership approaches aligned to organizational strategy and culture.

About Zenger Folkman Sample Organizations Using ZF’s Approach• Wilfrid Laurier and Queen’s

Universities• Canadian Tire• Niagara Region• Fanshawe College• CIBC• EllisDon• Dillon (engineering) Consulting• Air Transat• Seneca College• Rogers• Elsevier• General Mills• Symantec

• Coca Cola• Deloitte• Fidelity Investments• ConocoPhillips• Adidas• Marriott• Lockheed Martin• Safeway• Zain• Allianz• AT&T• Wells Fargo Bank• US Navy


3



“An unusual blend of credible and uncompromising research married with years of successful applicationwith leaders and organizations. The result is innovative, at times challenging conventional wisdom… I have seen talent in my organization engage and improve based on this work."

Kevin D. Wilde, VP, Organization Effectiveness and Chief Learning Officer and author of Dancing with the Talent Stars: 25 Moves That Matter Now

Core Research and Strengths-Based

Leadership Systems

Core Research and Strengths-Based

Leadership Systems

Evidence-Based Leadership

Development

a strategic partner of

The Big Need for Change Evidence-Based Medicine

“The use of scientific data to confirm that proposed diagnostic or therapeutic procedures are appropriate in light of their high probability of producing the best and most favorable outcome.”


4



The Need for Evidence-Based Leadership Development

• Over 124,000 books with “leadership” in the title at Amazon – how many others don’t have that word in their title?

• Over 340,000 Google hits on “leadership books.”

• A flood of theories, opinions, thesis papers, inspiration, training programs, frameworks, styles, models, tools…

Some of the Behaviors/Competencies ResearchedFollows Through on Commitments

Ensure Alignment with Core Values

Personal Accountability

Humility

Drive for Results

Business Acumen

Intellectual Power

Decision Making

Decisiveness

Sound Decisions

Establish Stretch Goals

Dealing with Ambiguity

Self-Awareness

Ability to Change

Takes Initiative

Accepts Feedback

Control Emotions

Command Skills

Communicates Powerfully and Prolifically

Managing and Executing Projects

Practices Self- Development

Clear – Effective Processes

Simplicity - Efficiency

Operational Excellence

High Standards

Getting Others to Step Up

Be Courageous

Encourages Speaking Up

Asks Powerful Questions

Listening

Written Communication

Develops Strategic Perspective

Demonstrates the Ability to Influence

Project Optimism

Is Trusted

Champions Change

Values Diversity

Gives Recognition

Recruits and Retains

Conducts Reviews and Takes Action

Delegation

Inspires and Motivates Others to High Performance

Connects the group to the Outside World

Displays High Integrity and Honesty

Personally Supports Others Development

Helps Set Goals/Performance Expectation

Provides Feedback

Managing Across Boundaries

Connects the Group to the Outside World

Addresses Conflicts and Disagreements

Consensus Building

Balance Long Term with Day to Day

Managing Vision & Purpose

Technical/Professional Expertise

Organizational Savvy

Planning & Organization

Goal Alignment

Solves Problems and Analyzes Issues

Managing Across Boundaries

Addresses Conflicts and Disagreements

Consensus Building

Builds Relationships

Develops Others

Intelligent Risk Taking

Thinking Like a Customer

Business Development

Global Mindset

Collaboration and Teamwork

Market Insight

Safety Leadership

Innovates

The Original Research Base• Two years researching the impact of leadership

performance and the key behaviors great leaders demonstrate.

• Data set of 200,000 evaluations on 20,000 people.• Contrasted the highest-performing 10% to the

lowest-performing 10%.• The data conclusively demonstrates:

leadership effectiveness can be measured and is strongly correlated to performance outcomes

16 competencies most differentiate the extraordinary leaders from everyone else

building on existing strengths is the most effective approach to development

For Full a Research Report. . .


5



Differentiating Competencies

•Communicates Powerfully and Prolifically

•Inspires and Motivates Others to High Performance

•Builds Relationships

•Develops Others

•Collaboration and Teamwork

•Develops Strategic Perspective

•Champions Change

•Connects the Group to the Outside World

•Drives for Results

•Establishes Stretch Goals

•Takes Initiative

Leading Change

Focus on Results

Interpersonal Skills

•Technical/Professional Expertise

•Solves Problems and Analyzes Issues

•Innovates

•Practices Self-Development

Personal Capability

•Displays High Integrity and Honesty

Character

The Good, the Bad, and the

Extraordinary

Strengths-Based Leadership Development

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0Emp

loye

e Sa

tisf

acti

on

/En

gage

men

t/C

om

mit

men

t Per

cen

tile

Overall Leadership Effectiveness

1st-9th

11th-19th

20th-29th

30th-39th

40th-49th

50th-59th

60th-69th

70th-79th

80th-89th

90th-100th

Same Organization, Same Pay System, Same Benefits, Same Culture – Different Leaders

19

Based on 23,800 Leaders

Poor LeadersCreate

Dissatisfaction

Great LeadersMake a Great

Difference

Good Leaders Have a

Mediocre Impact

Leadership experienced

every day on the job

One variable emerged as the best predictor of employee engagement, satisfaction, and commitment

Searching for the Keys to Employee Engagement, Satisfaction, and Commitment


6



Extraordinary leaders have much higher

retention rates.

19

14

9

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

Bottom 30% Middle 60% Top 10%

The Impact of Leadership Effectiveness on Turnover

Ave

rage

Pe

rce

nt

Turn

ove

r

Poor Leaders Good Leaders Great Leaders

Percent of Employees that “Think about Quitting”

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

1st -

9th

10th -

19th

20th -

29th

30th -

39th

40th -

49th

50th -

59th

60th -

69th

70th -

79th

80th -

89th

90th -

100th

% o

f Em

plo

yees

in W

ork

Gro

up

s

That

“Th

ink

abo

ut

Qu

itti

ng”

Leadership Effectiveness Percentile

Impact of Leadership Effectiveness on a Safe Work Environment

Bottom 10 Percentile

11th – 35th

Percentile36th – 65th

Percentile66th – 90th

PercentileTop 10

Percentile

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0Safe

Wo

rk E

nvi

ron

men

t (P

erce

nti

le)

19

42

50

59

67

Leadership Effectiveness

Impact of Leadership Effectiveness on Customer Satisfaction

Bottom 10 Percentile

11th – 35th 36th – 65th 66th – 90th Top 10Percentile

65

60

55

50

45

40

35

30

Cu

sto

mer

Sat

isfa

ctio

n (P

erce

nti

le)

36

4649

5760


Technology Service Provider


7



Impact of Leadership Effectiveness on Sales


Bottom 10% Next 25% Middle 30% Next 25% Top 10%

$700.00

$600.00

$500.00

$400.00

$300.00

$200.00

$100.00

$0.00

Sale

s in

Mill

ion

s

Impact of Leadership Effectiveness on Team Sales Great leaders generate much greater income.

-2000000

-1000000

0

1000000

2000000

3000000

4000000

5000000

Leadership Effectiveness versusNet Income

Net

Inco

me

($1.2MM)

$2.4MM

$4.5MM

Bottom 10% Middle 80% Top 10%Poor Leaders Good Leaders Great Leaders

Mortgage Bank Branches

Leadership Effectiveness vs. Satisfaction with Pay and Job Security

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

65

70

1st - 9th 10th -19th

20th -29th

30th -39th

40th -49th

50th -59th

60th -69th

70th -79th

80th -89th

90th -100th

Sati

sfac

tio

n w

ith

Co

mp

any

Pay

& J

ob

Sec

uri

ty

Leadership Effectiveness Percentile

Case Study: Richard’s Dilemma


8



What’s the Message From This Assessment?

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5 Global Norm Richard

“Our greatest tragedy is not that our aim is too high and we miss it,

but that it is too low and we reach it.”

Michelangelo

Aiming for Extraordinary

How’s Richard Doing Now?

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

90th Percentile Leaders Richard


Leveraging Leadership Strengths



9



Fixing Weaknesses!

What Does Performance Improvement Mean to Most People?

• Positive emotion

• Engagement

• Relationships

• Meaning

• Accomplishment

What We All Really Want from Life

Implications for our leadership and culture development?

The Power of Focusing on Strengths


The Power of Focusing on Strengths


What if the teacher had asked them to write down

weaknesses and improvement suggestions?


10



Why do most leaders focus on fixing weaknesses?


• Why do most performance reviews focus on fixing weaknesses rather than leveraging strengths?

• What’s the lingering effect?


Weaknesses Strengths

Power-based command and control

Inspiring shared leadership

Catch people doing things wrong Catch people doing things right

Indifference and apathy Energized and engaged

Focus on fixing what’s wrong

See the worst in people

Leverage/build on what’s right

Bring out the best in people

Push and punish Pull and coach

What’s Your Culture Anchored In?"...the path to greatness is really about building profound strengths, rather than through relentlessly focusing on one's weaknesses.”

Michael A. Peel, Vice President, Human Resources and Administration


11



Typical Approach to Development

1. Evaluate current level of effectiveness

2. Identify areas of strength and weakness

3. Create an action plan to improve areas of weakness

If Someone is Average at Everything, What is the Effect of Focusing on Lower Scores?

Average at Everything

1 2 3 4 5

P

O

N

M

L

K

J

I

H

G

F

E

D

C

B

A

Will fixing one or two less-positive

issues have a dramatic impact on

leadership effectiveness?

Key Research Insight

You don’t have to be perfect to

be an extraordinary

leader.a strategic partner of

Your Best Leader1. What were this leader’s most profound

strengths?

2. Did this leader have any weaknesses or areas in which he/she did not excel?

3. What kept these weaker areas from undermining his/her overall impact?

Your Worst Leader1. What was this leader’s Fatal Flaw?

2. Did this leader have any strengths or areas in which he/she was actually quite capable?

3. Why were these strengths not enough to change an overall perception?


12



Focusing Development on Weaknesses Works Well When. . .

Lead

ers

hip

Co

mp

ete

nci

es

. . . People Have Fatal Flaws

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Fatal Flaws & NoProfound Strengths

18

Overa

ll L

ead

ers

hip

Eff

ecti

ven

ess

(P

erc

en

tile

)

1 2 3 4 5

P

O

N

M

L

K

J

I

H

G

F

E

D

C

B

A

Strong negative data on an issue can

cripple a person’s leadership

effectiveness

Why?A. When you have a fatal flaw

that is all people notice.

B. Change is very obvious to others.

C. Starting from a low base helps to produce greater change.

D. All of the above.

Working on a Fatal Flaw Clearly Pays Off

Importance Ratings You don’t have to be a superhero to be an extraordinary leader.


13



Extraordinary leaders are distinguished by existence of a few profound strengths, not the absence of weaknesses

0

20

40

60

80

100

0 1 2 3 4 5

34

6472

8189 91

Ave

rage

Pe

rce

nti

le S

coreOverall

Leadership Effectiveness

Our Research Shows Strengths-Based Development is Most Effective

Number of Profound Strengths(Competencies at the 90th percentile or higher)

Pre-test Post Test

+26

+12

* Fixing weaknesses excludes those fixing fatal flaws

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

*Fixed Weaknesses Built Strengths

Per

cen

tile

54

66

56

82

A Strengths Focus Doubles Improvement Rates

“…their research caused us to rethink our performance management philosophy. We revamped our process to orient it more toward building employees' strengths. The results have been remarkable…The biggest change has been in the energy people have for the performance management process. It is now something that most employees look forward to. How many companies can say that?"

Mary Settle, Vice President of Human Resources, BARD Access Systems

Critical Components of a Best-In-

Class 360 Assessment



14



Accuracy in Predicting Leadership Effectiveness

Manager DirectReports

Peers Other Self

0.35

0.30

0.25

0.20

0.15

0.10

0.05

0.00

RSq

uar

ed

-Var

ian

ce P

red

icte

d

Ability of Individuals in Each Rater Group to Predict Overall Leadership Effectiveness

In Search of Gaps, Needs, and Weaknesses

Many organizations are using a weakness-based approach to development:

• People don’t like the process.

• Not much change occurs.

• Losing 70 - 80% of the training value.

• Negative and punishing.

• Graduate School – Worked with some of his professors who had created one of the first 360 assessments

• Wrote his dissertation on data that he had collected from a 360 that he developed

• Founding partner in an organization that developed hundreds of 360 assessments

• In 2002 he started over….

Joe Folkman’s History with 360s1. Simplified competencies and survey items based on predictive

evidence.

2. Ratings compared to extraordinary global norms, not averages.

3. Rating scales that avoid false positives and little differentiation.

Components of a Best-of-Class 360 Assessment



15



Typical Agree to Disagree Scale

• Respondent – “This person is an OK listener.”

• Participant – “I am doing pretty good on listening – I got a 4 out of 5.”

4 - Agree

5 – Strongly Agree

3- Neutral

2 - Disagree

1 – Strongly Disagree

“Listens carefully and attentively”

Strengths to Improvement Scale

• Respondent – “This person is an OK listener.”

• Participant – “I am OK.”

4 - Strength

5 – Outstanding Strength

3- Competent

2 - Needs Some Improvement

1 – Need Significant Improvement

“Listens carefully and attentively”

Using this scale the average response to

survey items decreased by .75

1. Simplified competencies and survey items based on predictive evidence.

2. Ratings compared to extraordinary global norms, not averages.

3. Rating scales that avoid false positives and little differentiation.

4. Measure leadership effectiveness against key performance outcomes.

5. Emphasis on building strengths not gaps/needs/weaknesses.

6. Identify the key competencies most important to the leader’s role.

7. Written comments only focused on flagging any fatal flaws rather than listing weaknesses.

8. An efficient survey process that takes about 15 minutes to complete.

9. Simple, intuitive, and visual feedback reports.

10. Provide insights to leaders on how to build his or her strengths.

11. Assess direct report’s engagement levels.

Components of a Best-of-Class 360 Assessment


Direct Reports Commitment Index


16



Cross Training: A

Revolutionary Approach to Developing

Strengths


This improvement was a critical factor in our qualifications for the Malcolm Baldrige award, which our division won.”

Dee Thomas, HR Director, Boeing Aerospace Support

“Using the ‘cross training’ approach; our leaders achieved an across-the-board improvement of close to 15% in their year-over-year employee commitment scores. Not only did our best leaders get better, but our ‘average’ leaders and even our poorest leaders showed marked improvement in their leadership effectiveness and employee commitment scores.

The Leader’s Situation Determines Which Strengths are Key

• Development efforts focus on building profound strengths

• Specific strengths to be built vary by leader

• Goal is 3-5 strengths at 90th percentile

• Offers a positive approach to developmentfor individual leader and the organization

Leadership

Sweet Spot

The Power of “A + B” Led to the Notion of “Powerful Combinations”

If these are BOTH strengths . . .

the probability of being an extraordinary leader: 14% + 12%

26%

(A)

Builds

Relationships

(B)

Drives for

Results


17




Weightlifting

IntervalTraining

MentalImagery

TechniquesStretching

SleepingHabits

Equipment

Yoga Nutrition

LongDistanceRunning

Good to Great: Non-Linear Cross Training Each Competency Has Many Companion Competencies

Always be honest

?

?

Be really really

Honest

?? ?

Displays HighIntegrity and

Honesty

Never lie

• Research identified statistically correlated companion behaviors for each competency.

• Each companion behavior represents a leadership cross-training idea for development.

• Each provides a potential path for building on an existing strength.

Assertiveness

Concernfor

Others

Drivesfor

ResultsDecisiveness

Trust

Deals Well with

Ambiguity

Inspires and

MotivatesOthers

Positive Optimism

Displays HighIntegrity and

Honesty

Competency Companions: Cross-Training Ideas for Leaders

Competency Companion Development Guide: A Roadmap for Developing Strengths


18




Public Workshops

The Extraordinary Leader (1 day) and

The Extraordinary Coach (1 day) Vancouver, BC – December 1 and 2

Edmonton – December 3 and 4Mississauga – December 10 and 11

The Extraordinary Performer – Dec. 12

Give Brad/Me Your Card For:• A chance to win a copy of

How to Be Exceptional or The Extraordinary Coach.

• Links to further articles/white papers and blogs expanding on today’s material.

• A copy of my slides.• Links to archived webinars.• Further info on our public

workshops.


“The effective executive makes strengths productive….one cannot build on weaknesses.

Strengths are the true opportunities. to make strength productive is the unique purpose of the organization.

It cannot overcome the weaknesses with which each of us in endowed, but it can make them irrelevant.

Organizations must feed the opportunities and starve the problems.”

Peter Drucker (1909 – 2005), author of 39 books and hundreds of articles on leadership, management, and organization effectiveness. Widely considered to be the father of “modern management”

Documents

Strengths-Based Leadership Development System · Strengths-Based Leadership Development System 2 Copyrighted Material. Please do not reproduce without permission. Discussion Overview