Minding Gaps

Master Class: Communication for Servant Leadership

 Venue for Master Class: Communication for Leadership

 

 “Communication is the real work of leadership,” says Harvard Business School dean Nitin Nohria. We emphatically agree.

We have been saying it for years: Successful leaders communicate their vision or concern or priority with clarity, with coherence, and with credibility. People know what the leaders think, what they feel, and what they believe. There is no doubt, no confusion, no vacillation.

Think of Ronald Reagan at the Berlin Wall. Think of Martin Luther King Jr. on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Think of Abraham Lincoln himself at Gettysburg. Think of Nelson Mandela emerging from 27 years of imprisonment. Think of England's legendary King Henry V, memorialized by Shakespeare, rallying his outnumbered and outgunned troops at Agincourt.

Think of any coach or teacher, any sibling or parent, any doctor or writer, any volunteer or political candidate, any manager or entrepreneur, anyone at all who influenced and ultimately inspired you to want something or do something or become something more.

Think of any influential, inspirational leader—at any time, in any place—and you will probably envision that leader in the act of speaking with conviction, clarity, and credibility.

Successful leaders communicate with whatever mechanism they can. They have a message they passionately believe in, and they speak it. Their message is one of aspiration, of need, of confidence. They describe, they declare, they demand. They cite examples. They tell stories. They ask questions, a litany of them, one after another on a single theme. They craft memorable aphorisms, little ditties, or clever quotations. They cajole. They persuade. They needle.

More importantly, they engage in dialogue—lots and lots of dialogue—and they repeat themselves over and over and over again.

Finally, and most importantly, they live their message. They are their message. They offer themselves as a working example of the leadership they preach. Their behavior and their decisions are part and parcel of their communication. They become their own first follower. 

It's for this very reason—the fact that communication, both explicit and implicit, both verbal and non-verbal, sometimes even latent, is the real but difficult work of leadership—that we throw such a bright spotlight on communication in our Master Class workshops, and it is why we offer a system to ensure that your leadership messages are clear, compelling, and credible.

 

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Master Class: Communication for Servant Leadership is a sophisticated, high-level look at the real energy of leadership. Far from typical training, it delves deep into relationships: the live-wire connection that makes leadership possible. Appropriate for any experienced manager or executive, regardless of level, it will reawaken and reignite the leader in you.

What makes Master Class stand out?

First, it approaches leadership not as a position on the org chart, and not as a function of static traits, but as hard work that anyone with responsibility for the work of others should do. The hard work focuses on the clarity, credibility, and cogency of communication—its substance, its style and tone, its frequency, its practical applicability, and its stickiness, or memorability.

Second, Master Class recognizes communication as anything that conveys information or creates meaning for people. That includes many kinds of silent, or behavioral, communication, as well as conventional, verbal communication. It’s up to every manager to manage not just the messages he or she is sending, both spoken and silent, but also the metamessages that people are receiving. As any manager knows, they may or may not be the same.

Third, Master Class takes a close look at people engagement. If there is one thing that enables a company to define the future, it’s the full focus, curiosity, passion, and courage of employees. That's engagement, and it is NOT the same thing as alignment, morale, loyalty, or commitment. Engagement is the deliverable, or work product, of leadership. You must know how to cultivate and grow engagement if you are to lead people to a new and better tomorrow.

Fourth, Master Class introduces and explores the powerful concept of servant leadership: the doctrine that leaders lead best by serving first, as opposed to expecting to be served. We call it 5th Degree Leadership. Modeled on the late Robert K. Greenleaf's trailblazing work, Master Class broaches difficult challenges of empathy, humility, self-awareness, vulnerability, and more. We're no longer surprised that this chapter is among the most memorable and well-received of the entire session, even among technically trained managers such as engineers and scientists.

Fifth, Master Class shows the hidden differences between communication for the sake of managing people and communication for the sake of leading them. The two differ profoundly in terms of their purpose, their content, their style, and their tone, yet few leaders understand or appreciate it. Use the wrong kind of communication, and you get the wrong result. This is a common phenomenon in business, and it goes a long way toward explaining why so many change initiatives fall flat on their face.

Finally, Master Class is filled with case studies and practical examples that will rivet your attention. People tell us they remember our stories for years and years, and that they share the stories with friends, colleagues, and even relatives. One of the highest compliments we receive, and it comes to us surprisingly often, is that our course even helps families come closer together. That isn't our strategic intent, but we're glad to be of help.

Master Class is taught by Thomas J. Lee, an expert on leadership communication who has been working with companies of all sizes for more than twenty years. A former journalist and executive speechwriter, he has benchmarked nearly 30 major corporations for their best-practice secrets. He has spoken and taught throughout the United States, across Canada, and in a dozen other countries in Europe, South America, and Africa. He blogs at www.MindingGaps.com.

Master Class has been a staple of corporate training programs at many Fortune 500 companies. Now, on a trial basis, we are offering it by open enrollment. You can register by yourself, or you can sign up several of your colleagues as well, for a fast-paced, two-day immersion or for a three-day session with a special chapter on leadership for introverts.

We have seats available in Master Class sessions scheduled for the following dates:

• July 24-25, 2013 (two-day immersion)
• August 7-8, 2013 (two-day immersion)
• September 11-12, 2013 (two-day immersion)
• October 15-16, 2013 (two-day immersion)
• October 22-23-24, 2013 (three-day with a special unit on leadership for introverts)

In addition, we occasionally schedule executive briefings over breakfast to introduce the program to corporate executives. Reserve a place or two at the next breakfast by calling us at 650-464-1770.

All sessions (including the executive briefings) take place in a charming, old Tudor-style hotel in an affluent, lovely North Shore suburb of Chicago. It's as far-removed from a cookie-cutter chain hotel as you can imagine, and we have negotiated favorable lodging rates just for you. The site is easily accessible by car or commuter train from the Loop, and it is just 45 minutes from Chicago's O'Hare Airport or 60 minutes from Milwaukee's Mitchell Field. Registration for Master Class includes continental breakfast and lunch both days, so you'll have additional opportunities to get to know your peers at other organizations.

Take a moment to read this course description of Master Class. Then let us know (by emailing us directly at info@arceil.com or by telephoning us at 650-464-1770) how many places we should hold for you and on which dates.

The two-day Master Class immersion has these benefits:

Bottom Line Value. Research shows that between 2.1 and 2.5 percent of an organization’s revenue is lost to the active disengagement of people. That’s as much as $2.5 million for every $100 million of revenue, and it is just for active disengagement. (Passive disengagement is more pervasive and adds still more to the cost.) Recover it, and it goes straight to the bottom line. Few such professional-development programs pay for themselves so easily. This one clearly does.

Big Ideas, Big Impact. Leadership and management are two different things. So are engagement and alignment. The communication that drives leadership and engagement is different from that which drives management and alignment, too. Use the wrong one, and you get the wrong result. Master Class brings clarity and explanation to these critical distinctions. Executives will come to understand the importance of distributive leadership—after all, no one can be everywhere—and managers will learn why they must stand as collateral leaders of the enterprise.

Case Studies. We have scoured top-tier companies for best practices, and we bring them to you. You will see practical examples from companies like Harley-Davidson, Levi Strauss, Nordstrom, Starbucks, Hewlett-Packard, Lockheed Martin, BP/Amoco, Federal Express, and many others. You'll remember the vivid stories for years to come.

Analysis of Engagement. Master Class identifies five levels of engagement—creative engagement, active engagement, passive engagement, passive disengagement, and active disengagement—and then analyzes each for its consequences, behaviors, and antecedents.

Simple, Powerful Models. Our flagship models, the Rainbow and the GearBox, have been used by major companies to get a fix on their level of staff engagement. The Rainbow Model identifies unintended, and previously unnoticed, credibility gaps: mixed messages, muddled messages, mute messages. The GearBox serves as both a structure and a self-assessment tool at the intersection of strategy and employee engagement. We guarantee you will find them both enlightening.

Managing the Metamessage. Master Class acknowledges the obvious: what people hear you say isn't necessarily what you said. It's one thing to choose your words carefully, and you certainly should do that. But if you neglect to manage your implicit communication, you still have a problem, and you haven't begun to address it. We'll show you how you are communicating 24/7 through your semi-formal and informal voices as well as your formal voice.

Quantitative Data. Master Class presents hard, factual, quantitative data to explain the power and value of communication around business strategy. You and your managers will get facts and figures on change, trust, engagement and disengagement, perceptions of managers by employees, ROI, message clutter, employee frustrations, rumors, and so much more. Most importantly, we realize that data always tells a story. Discerning the stories in the data is critical.

Trust in Leadership. Remember trust? Everyone pays lip service to it, and yet compromises to trust are all too common. Surveys show that senior management teams routinely and dramatically overstate the level of trust in their organizations. For leaders, trust is the product of their personal and institutional honesty, their professional competence, their presence and accessibility, and the affinity that people on their teams perceive in terms of common interests, needs, and concerns.We'll show how tenuous all these factors can be, and what you can do about it.

Practical, Proven Strategies. We have distilled our teaching down to neat lists of strategies and tactics. They all make abundant good sense, but many of these strategies never occurred to managers beforehand. Master Class puts them in your hands.

 

Our alumni include executives and managers from top-tier companies whose products you see and use every day. Evaluations of these workshops are consistently high. After sitting in a class for two or three full days, more than 95 percent of participants recommend Master Class for their peers and superiors.

Here’s what past participants have said about Master Class:

 

“This was a top-notch program directly geared [to] the success of managers. It was a continuing education program among peers.”

—a senior manager of a Fortune 100 consumer-products company

“I have worked for this agency for 25 years, and I have never had a day of in-service training as valuable as today’s.”

—scientist, agency of the U.S. government

“Excellent presenter, measured pauses, superb, enthusiastic, thought-provoking, excellent material, first-rate, will definitely recommend.”

—a guest participant

“I have gone through a lot of leadership training. This is one of the two best. The other was at Carnegie Mellon, and this workshop is more applicable to my day-to-day work.”

—senior engineer, aerospace company

“Tom is terrific! Original, enthusiastic, motivating . . . the lessons are applicable, useful, and real.”

—senior manager for an international food and beverage company

 

Tuition for the two-day programs is just $1,695 per person (or $1,495 by the early-bird deadline, 30 days prior to a class); add $500 for a three-day session. Registrations are non-refundable but fully transferable to a later date or to a colleague. We offer substantial scholarships for schools, for non-profit organizations, and for small businesses and entrepreneurs. Also, be sure to ask about our attractive packages, which offer substantial discounts for groups of five or more registering at the same time (they may attend different sessions).

Call us (at 650-464-1770) or write to us (at info@arceil.com) to indicate your interest, and we'll get back to you right away. (Note that payment can only be made by credit card over the telephone, as our web presence is not yet secure.)

 

Three Common Myths of Leadership

 

By Thomas J. Lee

In one way or another, I've been working in the vineyards of leadership for most of my career. I have interviewed senators and presidents. I have worked with CEOs of big companies. More recently, I have taught thousands of managers how to lead people.

Through all these experiences, the subject of leadership keeps getting more and more fascinating. The more you dig into it, the more golden nuggets of truth you find—and the more fool's gold of misunderstanding you find, as well.

Today I'd like to address some of the common misunderstandings around leadership. They are so pervasive that they color everyone's grasp of the subject. You can call them myths. Let's briefly explore just three of these myths.

Myth Number 1: Leadership is a position on the org chart. This belief is so entrenched that The Wall Street Journal and the Harvard Business Review both commonly use the word "leadership" as a synonym for "senior management." Rarely does either publication use "leadership" to describe the hard work that goes into taking people along on a journey of change.

Leading and managing are actually both hard work, but they are fundamentally different kinds of work. Moreover, in both substance and style, different kinds of communication drive the two things. Finally, and this is key, the work of leadership must extend far into the ranks of any company that wants to grow and prosper.

Think of managing as the hard work of ensuring compliance with predetermined expectations: deadlines, budgets, standards, laws, quotas. In contrast, think of leading as the hard work of imagining, describing, and bringing about a new and better tomorrow, often in periods of uncertainty and risk.

Those new and better tomorrows are vital. They mean the world. Companies that don't embrace the challenge of change, that don't continually reinvent themselves, gradually disappear. Look at TWA, Maytag, Gillette, Schwinn, McDonnell Douglas, Oldsmobile, Wyeth, Ameritech, Amoco, and many more. Some of their brand names survive in the marketplace, but all these companies have disappeared in the last fifteen years. Just disappeared!

Few managers regard themselves as collateral leaders of the enterprise, and few executives provide for the professional development of managers into leaders. And because so many successful managers were schooled as managers, hired as managers, promoted as managers, and rewarded as managers, they are trapped in a default state of only managing things.

They even invoke the phrase "change management" to describe what should be the work of leadership. They can do better.

Myth Number 2: Communication for leadership is rudimentary, easy, and simple, and it need not be a strategic concern. After all, senior managers assume, they have been talking ever since they were toddlers, and they have been making presentations since they were management trainees. What could be simpler?

The reality is that clear, credible, compelling communication for leadership in business doesn't come naturally and intuitively to most managers. It involves all kinds of implicit, non-spoken messages that you send by means of decisions, habits, standards, assumptions, attitudes, schedules, and so much more, as well as explicit statements and questions that may inadvertently convey messages you don't intend.

Indeed, your unintentional communication can easily overwhelm your deliberate, intended messages. When you think of communication as only the stuff of PowerPoint presentations or email messages, you miss the impact of most of your communication. That's self-defeating.

Good communication for leadership requires a great deal of time, effort, and skill. Most of all, it requires sensitivity to people. But the investment is worth all the work. It pays huge dividends.

Myth Number 3: The mark of successful leadership is full alignment. Again, not true. The mark of successful leadership is full engagement. Alignment and engagement are not the same thing. In fact, they are almost opposites.

You can think of alignment as the work product, or deliverable, of good managing. You meet the pre-determined expectations that I mentioned a moment ago by aligning people and other resources with results.

Engagement is completely different from alignment. Think of engagement as the work product, or the deliverable, of good leading. It is all about people who are focusing on the right things, who are constantly searching for solutions, who are excited and enthusiastic, and who have the backbone to change themselves and to insist that others change as well.

Thus it is true that the mark of successful managing is alignment, but as we have already seen, the work of managing and the work of leading are two different things.

Companies need both good management and good leadership, and it follows that they also need both alignment and engagement. They need alignment to meet the challenges of today. They need engagement to meet the challenges of tomorrow.

 

Unfortunately, companies often get low marks for engagement on employee attitude surveys, but the companies don't understand engagement well enough to know what to do. So they keep on focusing on managing the company. Next year, they survey employees again, and they get similar scores. Surprise, surprise.

We discuss all this, and much more, in our celebrated Master Class workshops. We have an inaugural, one-day, open enrollment Master Class scheduled for June 26. Call us (at 847-247-2241) today to register.

 
 © Copyright 2012   Arceil Leadership Ltd.   All rights reserved.

Our New Twitter Address: @LeadAloud

 

Would you take a moment and change your Twitter address for us to @LeadAloud? Or begin following us at that address if you aren't already? We're consolidating several Twitter addresses to just one.

Also, if the spirit moves you, kindly pass along @LeadAloud to any of your friends and colleagues who have an interest in leadership, communication, change, and workplace engagement.

And in the meantime, remember to check back here (at www.MindingGaps.com) for more short essays. We have nearly 500 original essays on various aspects of leadership, communication, change, and workplace engagement just fingertips away.

We're taking a respite for reflection, restoration, and hopefully a little renassance. We'll be back in a month or two on a regular basis.

—TJL                     

 

Holy Kaw! Minding Gaps Is Now On Alltop.com!

 

I am thrilled to announce that Guy "Holy Kaw!" Kawasaki—best-selling author, Apple's original evangelist, and co-founder of the Alltop aggregator—has just added Minding Gaps to the Alltop blogroll.

Alltop readers can now access this blog under the Leadership tab or by searching for Minding Gaps from the Alltop home page.

Holy Kaw is right!

—TJL                       

 

Coming on Monday

{Numbers} Trust in Management

 

Coming on Wednesday

How Leaders Must Manage Themselves

(Third of Four Parts)

 © Copyright 2011   Arceil Leadership Ltd.   All rights reserved.

Let's Break Out the Champagne!

 

I was still sleeping at the time, but just before 4 a.m. Central (U.S.) Daylight Time today, Minding Gaps welcomed its 50,000th reader.

Almost all of you are looking for insights to help your leadership in business, government, nonprofit associations, churches, fraternal clubs, social networks, and advocacy organizations.

We hope you are finding what you are seeking, and we are humbled that so many of you have placed your confidence in us. Thank you.

Minding Gaps has nearly 500 original essays on various aspects of leadership, communication, staff engagement, and change in the workplace. Take your time and scroll through our archives. And be sure to click on Subscribe so that you will automatically receive our new posts, three times a week.

At any time you aren't finding what you want, or if I can serve you in any other way, please write to me directly at tom@arceil.com.

 

Thomas J. Lee           

 

Memorial Day 2011

 

Today is a national holiday in the United States, where this blog is published. We will return Wednesday.

 

 

Minding Gaps Welcomes Its 40,000th Reader

 

At some point today, probably before noon, Minding Gaps will welcome its 40,000th reader. Almost all of you are looking for insights to help your leadership in business, government, nonprofit associations, churches, fraternal clubs, social networks, and advocacy organizations.

We hope you are finding what you are looking for. If not, please alert us. If so, we always appreciate hearing of your satisfaction.

We are humbled that so many of you have placed your confidence in us. Thank you.

 

Thomas J. Lee                

 

Addendum:  Whoever accessed the post on John F. Kennedy's quote on myths at precisely 11:00 a.m. CST today was our 40,000th reader. Call us (at +1-847-247-2241) and introduce yourself and we'll give you a 10 percent discount off the fee for a workshop.

Fourth of July

 

After the thirteen colonies declared independence from the British crown 234 years ago, the American patriot John Adams wrote to his beloved Abigail back in Massachusetts: “I am apt to believe [the anniversary] will be celebrated by succeeding generations . . . with pomp and parade; with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations; from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward, forever more.”

Now that, we can all agree, was an extraordinary leadership vision.

 

 

We are not publishing on Monday, July 5, in observance of the Fourth of July. (Independence Day falls on a Sunday this year, and businesses are closed on Monday to observe it.) We will return to this space on Wednesday, July 7.

Celebrate exuberantly but safely, and have a glorious Fourth of July.

 

 

 

 

Memorial Day

We are not publishing today, a holiday here in the United States.

Amid the picnics and patriotic parades that are staples of Memorial Day, we will take time to reflect on and appreciate the sacrifices by so many veterans in the name of freedom and opportunity. We ask you to do likewise. Their selfless devotion to duty enabled all of us to live the life we want.

We will return to this space on Wednesday, June 2.

Wanted: A Few Good Professionals

Note to Readers:

Occasionally I learn of attractive job opportunities, typically at senior levels in a corporate or consulting environment, and almost always in the general areas of organizational communication, organizational development, leadership training and development, or public relations.

If you are at or approaching a senior level in these disciplines, and you wish to be on my short list to learn of exciting opportunities, send me an email with a telephone number and a résumé. I will keep it in utmost confidence.

 

Thomas J. Lee

tom@arceil.com

Minding Gaps Minds a Little Milestone

We’re taking a little bow, to you—our readers.

As of today, ten thousand of you have perused these pages. We’re honored and humbled.

Thank you for reading. If there’s anything we can do for you, please speak up.

— TJL    

 

Life Support for Your Vital Front-Line Managers

 

Consider these stunning, disturbing facts:

• Four out of every five change initiatives fall short of expectations.

• A clear majority of employees in U.S.-based companies admit they are disengaged.

• Almost all corporate employees say they know in advance when a project will fail.

• Only a handful are willing to tell their supervisor about it for fear of being blamed for the failure.

Why is that? What could possibly account for it? How can we finally make big change and genuine engagement a reality?

The answer involves the front-line supervisor. Typically overlooked or undervalued, front-line supervisors are a critical link in the execution of any business strategy, change initiative, operating priority, or rebranding campaign. Supervisors are uniquely positioned to translate the implications of the strategy or initiative to the day-to-day work that employees do on the factory floor, in the front office, on the loading dock, in the research laboratory, at the call center, or in face-to-face contact with the customer.

Fully 25 percent of all employee engagement is driven by front-line supervisors. Good supervisors create a halo effect around a company that makes it easy to find and recruit the best employees. By the same token, bad supervisors drive good employees out the door. Either way, front-line supervisors are the critical link in engagement. In fact, no other factor accounts for more employee engagement than supervisors.

Yet far more often than you may assume, front-line supervisors are not onboard with a strategy or initiative, and they don’t believe it will last more than a few months. They feel safe dismissing it and ignoring it. Consequently, business strategies and initiatives are often DOA long before senior management realizes.

It doesn’t have to be that way. Here is an opportunity to learn how to enroll front-line supervisors as champions of your next business strategy, change initiative, operating priority, or rebranding campaign. You can learn:

• How front-line supervisors may starve a strategy or initiative to death even before it can achieve anything.

• How you can manage implicit as well as explicit communication around a strategy, initiative, or brand.

• How you can win the hearts and minds of supervisors, so that their initial disposition is to support senior management.

• How your communication planning can benefit from a continuing dialogue with front-line supervisors.

Seats are limited, so register now for this important webinar:

 

Friday, November 20, 2009

11 a.m. Eastern Time / 8 a.m. Pacific Time

"The Front-Line Supervisor: Strategies

for a Critical Link in Performance and Change"

$159 per person

( $79 for the first 50 registrants)

 

To register or get more information, send us an email or telephone us at +1-847-247-2241. Be sure to include your name, affiliation, email, and telephone. (Please note we have reverted to single-seat pricing to accommodate more individuals. This reduces the price; however, each person who participates is asked to be individually registered. Fees are non-refundable but fully transferable within your organization.)

 

Join Us in Co-Sponsoring Research on Social Media, Safety, and Lean

We are preparing to launch three research projects that may interest you, and we're enrolling sponsors for them. All three projects will produce real-world solutions for real-world problems. However, only those companies that co-sponsor the projects will benefit from them. We invite you to join a consortium of co-sponsors for one or more of these endeavors.

Each project will dig into an issue that companies like yours already face. Because each co-sponsor will help design and customize the research, each project will reflect every co-sponsor’s own concerns and interests. Each will result in relevant findings and actionable recommendations. Each will provide external benchmarks for comparison, evaluation, and benefit.

Every co-sponsor will be interviewed for specific concerns and interests relevant to the research, so that each project addresses every co-sponsor’s particular needs. In addition, co-sponsors will have exclusive access to the reports for one full year. Each report will have a written executive summary and PowerPoint slides for presentation of findings. At the conclusion of each project, we will host a webinar for co-sponsors that presents the findings and responds to questions.

The three research projects are:

1. Blogging and social-media policies and practices. Companies are walking a tightrope on social media. Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, Wikipedia, and LinkedIn pose issues of control and empowerment, generational divide, and responsibility and accountability. This research project will collate and compare policies and standards adopted by corporations, government agencies, and non-profit organizations on the use of social media by their employees. It will sort through competing approaches and determine what priorities are most important and necessary. We’ll also look at what companies are doing proactively with social media in terms of marketing, employee engagement, and reputation management. Our initial research shows a wide variety of approaches and practices, in terms of both substance and tone. Our intent is to establish a benchmark of policies that each sponsor can use for evaluation and improvement.

2. Communication for engagement on workplace safety. Workplace safety is a never-ending challenge for many companies, especially in the process manufacturing, transportation, and resource-recovery sectors (e.g., energy, fishing, timber). This research will look at policies and standards for the communication of safety goals and practices. It will compare and contrast differing approaches. To the extent possible, it will also cautiously connect communication of safety goals and practices with relative performance. Our experience in this arena has taught us the real difficulty of ensuring alignment, even among front-line supervisors, when it comes to workplace safety. This report will identify successful practices and enable sponsoring companies to compare their own policies and procedures and to manage the communication of workplace safety more effectively.

3. Communication for engagement on lean management. Lean management, the gold standard of production, is a well-organized drive to identify and eliminate any source of waste. Pioneered by Toyota, it has made a significant difference in many operating environments. How well is it supported by resources and processes of professional communication, and how lean are those resources and processes? What opportunities are there for lean approaches to non-manufacturing and staff functions? Here, too, we will look for trailblazing companies and identify what and how they are communicating the principles of lean to and with employees.

We will enroll co-sponsors on a first-come, first-serve basis. The first five co-sponsors to enroll in each consortium will receive favorable pricing. We hope to finalize these consortia by October 16, 2009 to ensure the timely completion of these projects.

If one or more of these projects is of interest to you, please call us directly at +1-847-247-2241 for further information, including fees and scheduling, and for registration. Or write to us at info@arceil.com, and we can arrange a convenient time to talk by telephone. We look forward to working with you.

 

Our Philosophy

Now that have you had a chance to get to know us at Minding Gaps, we would like to set forth more fully our philosophy and purpose.

Minding Gaps reflects a philosophy of leadership and communication. In brief, our philosophy holds that:

• Leadership and management are two different things. Individuals who are good managers are not necessary good leaders. Management concerns itself with organizing and ensuring performance to a predetermined standard. Leadership, on the other hand, concerns itself with envisioning the future and inspiring people to go to extraordinary lengths to achieve that vision.

• Good communication—clear, credible, compelling—is the energy of leadership. Words are powerful, for they mold attitudes and identity and bring people together behind a concern and a cause.

• Communication for the sake of management is different from communication for the sake of leadership. The former is detailed and directive, and its essential message is accountability. The latter is general and inspiring, and its essential message is opportunity.

• Leadership is essential to change, and therefore enduring change is impossible without leadership. The single most important change that most companies can make is a dramatic increase in the engagement of their people.

• Many organizations have solid management but few have dynamic leadership and sufficient levels of engagement. Consequently, few organizations are able to marshal change.

• Leaders need followers more than followers need leaders. Leaders must connect with followers so as not to leave them behind, and leaders connect best with followers through a systematic process of integrated, strategic leadership communication*.

Our purpose is simple and straightforward. We want to make leadership and change simple, natural, and as close to inevitable in your organization as we possibly can. We think you will like that.

Offered by Arceil Leadership Ltd., Minding Gaps is written by the firm's founder and president, THOMAS J. LEE, who is solely responsible for its content. Mr. Lee is president of Arceil Leadership Ltd., a niche consultancy at the crossroads of leadership, communication, and change. He works with management teams of large and medium-size companies to enhance their leadership credibility and impact. An alumnus of the University of Chicago and of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, he is formerly a Fortune 25 corporate speechwriter and a newspaper journalist, serving as political editor and editorial columnist.

A dynamic and popular speaker, THOMAS J. LEE has lectured, consulted and led workshops throughout the United States, across Canada, and in nearly a dozen other countries in South America, Europe, and Africa. He has benchmarked organizational communication in nearly 30 major corporations, including Starbucks, 3M, Hewlett-Packard, Shell Oil, DuPont, Levi-Strauss, Nordstrom, Walgreens, Federal Express, Chick-fil-A, Motorola, and Harley-Davidson, among others. His first book, Mind the Gaps: The Three Voices of Leadership, is nearing completion.

We Can Help Build Engagement

(We pause now for this brief commercial message. We’ll return in 379 words.)

Is your organization undergoing change?

Are you preparing to roll out a new initiative or requirement and worried that employees will see it as just another program of the month?

Are you relying on drip-by-drip cascading to build awareness and support for a business priority?

Are you coping with a headcount freeze but need specialized talent for a short-term execution or communication project?

Are you wondering how the best organizations communicate strategy and initiatives to their employees?

Are your leaders in need of coaching for an all-important site tour, staff announcement, or town-hall meeting?

If you need any of this or all of it, you need Arceil.

Arceil Leadership is a small, boutique firm that offers support and specialized insight on strategic execution, change, renewal, and high performance. If we cannot handle a project for you, we can find resources who can.

We have a depth of experience and insight. Our client list includes industry-leading companies in pharmaceuticals, heavy equipment, life insurance, motorcycles, beer, energy, and petrochemicals. But we also work with mid-cap companies, non-profits, and government agencies.

In short, we help leaders lead, and we build engagement.

What will Arceil do for you? Any of this:

• Provide high-level support for your new initiatives, vision creation, strategic direction, and mission-critical programs.

• Teach your managers how to manage less and lead more.

• Craft communication plans that don't just stop at announcements, but build real support among the troops.

• Challenge your assumptions on employee engagement.

• Show you how to build and maintain your credibility among key stakeholders.

• Teach senior executives the power of integrated strategic communication.

• Provide insights from 15 years of benchmarking best-in-class companies like Starbucks, Hewlett-Packard, Federal Express, Nordstrom, Harley-Davidson, 3M, and many others.

Applying a real-world framework to messages both implicit and explicit, we can shore up your credibility with key stakeholders--without resorting to happy talk, fast talk, sweet talk, or double talk.

In small groups or private coaching, we can help you and your managers become energetic leaders and inspiring speakers. In operations assignments, we can identify and break through barriers to change. We can super-charge your employee engagement, and we can show you how to roll out an initiative with legs.

Arceil offers a complimentary consultation by telephone.

Contact us today (at info@arceil.com or +1-847-247-2241).

 

(We now return you to your regular programming.)

 

Count 'em: Fifteen signs of dysfunction

© Copyright 2006 Arceil Leadership Ltd. All rights reserved.

by Thomas J. Lee

Short of an exhaustive audit, there's really no quick and simple means of objectively evaluating a company's business-strategy communication for employees. Still, it's important to try. So just how can you assess the clarity, credibility, and coherence of communication around business strategy and priorities?

One way is to look for signs of dysfunction. It isn't pretty, but it tells you what needs attention.

Here are 15 alarms to keep an eye out for. Each is a flashing red light. If you see any of them in your organization, you have work to do. If you see more than a few, you have lots of work to do. If you see most or all of them, you may want to run for the hills.

Alarm No. 1: The terms "leadership" and "management" are used interchangeably. There's actually a big difference between them, though senior people often wear both hats. Moreover, the difference affects the communication for each. Management concerns itself with performance to standards. Control and authority are paramount; deadlines and budgets are common metrics. Leadership, on the other hand, is about inspiring change through people. While framework and direction are important, the real leverage for change is the focus, curiosity, passion and courage of the troops. It follows that communication for management is directive and commanding, and communication for leadership is enlightening, inspiring and empowering. Because the distinction is so often overlooked, companies commonly default to directive, commanding communication that undermines leadership and stymies innovation and change. That's a loud siren of its own.

Alarm No. 2:  Communication is regarded as verbal messages and data only. Everyone knows that "actions speak louder than words" and that "the facts speak for themselves." Yet few companies regard communication with employees as anything beyond words and numbers. Do they honestly think employees have blinders on? A company's internal-communication process should concern itself not just with the "official truths" (verbal messages, as articulated by leadership) but also with the "ground truths" (perceptions and perceived reality expressed by policy decisions, visible behaviors of executives and senior managers, cultural forces, the organization's evident purpose, etc.). Otherwise, the company's credibility with its own people will be highly questionable.

Alarm No. 3:  There's a tendency for positive spin on negative news. Let's leave spin to the politicians and their handlers. In business, we are who we are. More than anyone else, our employees know it. That's the simple truth. When bad things happen to good companies, good companies acknowledge it. They own up to their own responsibilities, and they get busy. They don't try to pull the wool over everyone's eyes. That's why good companies are good companies—and it's also one reason why good companies are good places to work.

How much should you spend on leadership communication?

© Copyright 2006 Arceil Leadership Ltd. All rights reserved.

by Thomas J. Lee

There's a never-ending debate over how much money a company should spend on its organizational (or internal or leadership or employee) communication function. Some people say x dollars (or pounds or yen) per employee. Others say y. I listen to the debate with bemusement. If only this work were so easy.

Having benchmarked organizational communication in more than two dozen major corporations, I know the answer is—well, just what is it?

Actually, it depends on the company, its industry, its strategy, its competitive position, its legacy, its location, its budgeting, its professional competencies, its leaders and their expectations, its employees and their expectations, and that's just for starters.

In a nutshell, the problem with budget-based benchmarking of the communication function is that no two companies are sufficiently similar to allow for it. The differences are inevitable and profound.