Facade or Leadership Skill?

I have a CEO client, quite young and a high flyer within the organisation. He is passionate about leadership and has a determined, logical and analytical mind, all good qualities in a leader. In a recent coaching session he pondered on whether these strengths could become his weakness.

He was concerned that his natural, calm, logical demeanour, if not given some spark, could fail to motivate and energise his team. In large group presentations he wanted to be energised, inspiring and motivating to his employees but felt that such behaviour was ‘just not him’. He asked me if it was alright to put on a charismatic façade and therefore, in his view, be inauthentic. In fact his exact question was, “Is it wrong to put on a façade and pretend to be someone you are not?”

An essential skill for any top class leader is the ability to adapt behaviour according to the situation. For instance, some of the best, most dynamic speakers in the world are introverts who have learned to master the art of demonstrating extraverted behaviour when they are in front of an audience. They may undergo more stress than a natural born extravert when delivering their oration but are nevertheless impressive in action. Once the speech is over they are more likely to go back stage and rest alone to re-energise, rather than mingle with the audience or other speakers. Is this wrong? Is the introvert being false or fooling the audience with their apparent extraverted behaviour? Not a bit. They have mastered the art of being who the audience needs them to be at that particular time.

I asked my client if he had ever had the experience of feeling fully energised and animated, to the point where he felt he could inspire, influence and uplift the spirits of others. He recalled a time in his past when he really had experienced an energised and inspirational feeling. With some help from me he managed to vividly recreate that feeling and as I watched his physiology change it was clear that he really could call up that particular “state” if he needed to. By state, I mean the mental state of mind combined with the physiological symptoms associated with that particular time when he was able to inspire and motivate others.

The client realised that he was not being false or inauthentic by using a state that was not his usual day to day leadership style. He was merely showing leadership flexibility by harnessing a state that was already his but usually hidden.  As we go through life we experience many different states and they are all there, permanently recorded as memories in the subconscious. With practise and some simple NLP techniques, resourceful states can be recalled and brought into play when needed. In the case of my client, he now had his “charismatic and inspiring state” ready to be deployed the next time he addressed the audience he was keen to inspire.

When A Coach Fires The Client

It’s very rare for a Coach to fire their client but this happened with a client of mine last week, for the first time in seven years of coaching senior managers.

The client was the CEO of a sizable organisation and had opted for coaching as privilege offered to senior managers of the larger entity to which she belonged.  She was a feisty, energetic and no-nonsense sort of personality and 360 feedback suggested she needed to work on her somewhat autocratic leadership style.  Her team members were experiencing insensitivity, poor listening skills and a condescending and dismissive attitude sometimes amounting to arrogance.

When faced with the truth from the 360, despite my assurances that I was not there to judge her, merely to pass on the data, she had a firm justification for all her behaviours.  When asked questions related to her behaviour she always talked about her colleagues or the organisation but never about herself.  I pointed out this habit, which elicited indignance and a statement of her position that she was not prepared to discuss her own behaviours as they were ‘private’ and not up for discussion with a Coach.

I persisted and assured her that our conversations were 100% confidential and that coaching really is about personal development and self-awareness.  Her response was that maybe she was not a suitable candidate for coaching.  Having had three meetings with her and meeting resistance all the way, I had to agree with her and terminate the coaching engagement.

What do we learn from this experience?  First, as a Coach it is essential to set expectations very clearly, before the start of the coaching programme, that a degree of candidness and openness, as well as some introspection will be required.  Second, from the client side it must be understood that there needs to be a willingness to change self-defeating habits and behaviours where necessary.  Third, the client needs to appreciate that successful coaching outcomes depend entirely on a positive approach to personal development, acceptance of candid feedback and the actions they are willing to take to change.

Leaders Who Think at Light Speed

Is it possible for a leader to be too smart and too quick thinking? I have the privilege of coaching some of the most intelligent, high profile, fastest thinking people in Asia. Being smart and quick thinking has played a significant part in getting them where they are today. So how could super intelligence and light speed thinking become a leader’s weakness?

As managers move up the career ladder certain strengths, like ‘light speed thinking’, can become a weakness if they have poor self awareness. Super-quick thinkers at the top can display some or all of the following traits;

Poor listening skills

Impatience

Decision making before all facts are known

A constantly ‘busy’ mind

Dismissive of people who do not think at the same pace

Quick to judge

In turn, these traits can lead to;

Shutting people down who might have a great idea

Demotivation (“Whatever I come up with will be knocked back, so why bother”)

Employee disengagement (“There’s no point in bring this issue to his attention as he won’t listen anyway”)

Failure to develop team members

Poor employee retention (People can easily detect when they have been dismissed in the mind of the leader)

I’m not saying such managers should become slow thinkers. Their brains are probably hard wired that way anyway. What they can do is become more aware of their behaviour and how it can negatively affect other people when over used.

One way of achieving improved self awareness is through a 360 survey, either via an on-line instrument or a telephone survey by an independent consultant or Coach. This can work wonders IF the right 360 tool is used and IF the feedback is delivered by a trained professional.

One of my favourite 360 tools for helping leaders with jet speed thinking syndrome is Management Research Group’s, Leadership Effectiveness Analysis 360 (LEA360). For more information about the tool visit, www.mrg.com.

To learn more about using a 360 in your particular situation, call me on +65 9677 8043.

Straits Times Article, Saturday 20.3.10

Last Saturday the Straits Times carried an extensive article on coaching. It covered the kind of fees paid by corporate and private clients and the various types of Coaches available in Singapore.

It also talked about the importance of qualifications and accreditation for Coaches. As 1^st VP of the Singapore chapter of the ICF this is a topic close to my heart. The ST article certainly backed up the points made in my earlier blog about choosing the right Coach. There are many trainers and consultants who have deemed it fashionable to call themselves a Coach, even though they have never even attended a one-day coaching skills course.

If you are interested in engaging a Coach, make sure you ask them about their training, which school they trained with, some successful outcomes, whether they are accredited by a reputable professional body and who their typical clients are. If you are looking for an executive Coach it’s probably not the best idea to engage a parenting Coach, or vice versa. If you receive fluffy replies to these questions, move on and look for a properly qualified Coach.

For more advice on choosing the right Coach, call me and I’ll advise you in my capacity as an ICF chapter officer.

Leadership Gaps in Singapore

I recently read an article in Human Capital, the magazine published by the Singapore Human Resource Institute.  It focused on research conducted in the U.S., India and Singapore by the Center for Creative Leadership.  They looked at the skills and competencies of 2,000 leaders in the private and public sector and reached some conclusions, which were not a surprise to me.

In my coaching practise I frequently see the skill gaps mentioned in the report.  I encounter some leaders who still subscribe to the ‘flogging will continue until morale improves’ style of leadership.  That may have worked in bygone days but the world has changed and leadership competences in Asia need to keep up with the rest of the world, especially when dealing with an increasingly multi-cultural workforce.

For those who missed the article in Human Capital, I have provided a PDF copy, via the link below.  Take a look at the article and see if the gaps mentioned can be seen in your organisation. If you want to know how those gaps can be closed, call me on +65 9677 8043.

Download the article here:

Overcoming Leadership Gaps in Asia Pacific

Assertive Leadership

In my work I sometimes encounter leaders who are too domineering, as well as those who prefer a friendly and soft-touch leadership style. At their extremes, both these styles can be ineffective or at worst destructive.

Those with an overt, domineering behaviour can demonstrate poor listening skills and shut subordinates down in one-to-one conversations or in meetings. The result is demotivated employees whose ideas are stifled by being deprived of air time. The ultra-domineering manager misses out on the collective wisdom of his or her team and may never discover some great ideas that could benefit the business.

At the other end of the leadership behaviour scale are those who value harmony above all else. They see subordinates as close personal friends, sometimes failing to deal effectively with poor performers. When team members are seen to be getting away with lax performance or missing deadlines, apparently without consequence, the top performers become demotivated. The team may also feel that their interests are not being properly and forcefully represented at Board level by the seemingly ‘soft’ boss.

So where is the middle ground? In most cases it’s simply a question of communication skills, combining listening skills with assertiveness. For the domineering manager, mastering listening skills enables them to learn more from the collective knowledge of subordinates. For the harmony focused manager, learning assertiveness helps them ensure team members meet deadlines and fully understand the consequences of under-performance. A reluctance to be assertive often stems from confusing ‘assertive’ with ‘aggressive’. The difference is that aggressive behaviour is emotional and disrespectful, whereas assertive behaviour is respectful and unemotional.  It is simply clarity of communication.

If this resonates with you and you would like to learn more about how executive coaching can dramatically improve leadership style visit; www.wayahead.com.sg or call Dennis Heath on +65 9677 8043.

Choosing the Right Coach

Before I start sharing some experiences and leadership tips from work with my clients, I thought it would be a good idea to position just where coaching is today in this part of the world, i.e. Singapore and S. E. Asia in general.

Coaching as a leadership development tool has only really come to prominence in this part of the world over the past five to six years. Initially it was only the global companies who already used coaching as a development strategy in the west who employed Coaches here. The Singapore government however were early adopters of coaching, with the aim of continually upgrading the management skills and leadership behaviour of senior public servants. Now, other locally based companies have caught on to the value of one-to-one coaching and are seeing concrete returns from their investment.

The pool of Coaches has grown in line with the demand and there are now one hundred and forty Coaches registered with the Singapore chapter of the International Coach Federation. They cover various coaching specialities including; executive, life, career, parental and others.

With so many Coaches available now, making a choice can be challenging. Here are a few tips to take into account when hiring a Coach.

1. Some trainers and consultants have suddenly started calling themselves Coaches but have never been trained and have neither the skills nor knowledge to coach effectively.  Make sure your Coach has been properly trained by a recognised Coach training institute.
2. Check that the Coach has the relevant experience to do the kind of coaching you are looking for. Ask about previous coaching assignments and look for testimonials from satisfied clients.
3. Try to ensure a chemistry match between the Coach and coachee. The coaching relationship is confidential and many personal fears, anxieties and emotions may be shared in the course of a coaching programme. It is important that both parties feel comfortable with each other.
4. Ask the Coach what tools and techniques he or she typically uses during the course of a coaching programme. You need to make sure the Coach has the appropriate tool kit to cope with the assignment you have in mind, as well as the basic coaching skills.
5. Finally, ask if the Coach is affiliated to a professional body such as the ICF (International Coach Federation). If they are an accredited member of the ICF you have an assurance that they have completed a minimum number hours of Coach training, have passed an ICF exam and have at least some verifiable professional experience.

For more information, visit my web site; www.wayahead.com.sg and www.icfsingapore.org