“How Leading Lawyers Think” A book review by Monique McKay, LL.M. and Robert Creo, J.D.

Posted on November 2, 2011 by Bruce MacAllister

Preface:

The following is a book review co-authored by professional colleagues, Monique McKay and Robert Creo. Ms. McKay and Mr. Creo are the co-founders of the Master Mediator Institute, which is a non-profit organization that allows mediators, executives, negotiators and advocates to connect with leading scientists and academics to explore cutting edge theories about human behavior. MMI presents Immersion Courses for intellectually curious mediators and executives who seek a greater understanding about the science of decision-making, neuroscience and human behavior. Ms. McKay is also an active collaborator with the Business Excellence Solutions team.

Last spring, I had the pleasure of meeting Randy Kiser, whose new book is discussed in the review below. Mr. Kiser’s extensive research into the psychology of settlement and the sources of settlement error that attorneys are prone to, is fascinating and has been extremely helpful to my work as a trainer for attorneys around the country.

It is my sincere pleasure to feature Ms. McKay and Mr. Creo’s article in this posting — BJM

Book Review: How Leading Lawyers Think” by Randy Kiser

“How Leading Lawyers Think” by Randall Kiser is a rare inside look at decision making, mediation, negotiation and case evaluation from the perspectives of leading attorneys who have successfully taken thousands of cases to trial.  Their collective experience provides engaging, insightful perspectives about how cases are built from the initial client meeting, through settlement negotiations and the factors that impact the presentation at trial.  Lawyers, mediators and other professionals in the legal field will find useful insights to become better decision makers, facilitators of decision making and advocates in the justice system.

Randall Kiser created a study group from a pool of 8,114 attorneys using a rigorous review process and selected only those who made accurate case evaluations and achieved financially effective results at trial. By conducting in-depth interviews with the 78 leading attorneys, Kiser delves into the intricacies of decision making and analysis of legal claims.

The stories, insights, experiences and values of the study attorneys are masterfully woven into a story that allows the reader to rethink how decisions are made and how cases ought to be evaluated. The book sets out what clients should expect in the way of accurate case evaluation, what advocates should deliver and the dynamics mediators should be aware of as they facilitate negotiations.

The attorneys show a deep respect for our legal institution and show that more than advocacy is needed to be effective. Their reflections are analyzed and collated into four sections; Roles and Responsibilities, Frameworks and Connections, Feelings and Traits and Techniques and Strategies. Kiser masterfully captures the attorneys’ insights as they reveal how they perceive a case from the initial client meeting, how they devise the case strategy, how they adjust their strategy as new developments occur, the importance of proper legal analysis and fact checking and the balancing of various factors and competing interests. All this is brought together and the attorneys describe how the complete package is presented in court to a judge or jury in a compelling manner. Throughout these stages of the process, the study attorneys show a deep sense of responsibility for successful outcomes.

Research from social sciences and experiential learning from the legal profession are presented together to explain how lawyers, clients, insurance adjustors, mediators, judges and juries think and make choices along the litigation trail. Bringing these perspectives in adds crucial data and insights to the analysis.

Determining what a legal claim is worth involves a holistic approach with multiple, ongoing and adaptable considerations and strategies.  The study attorneys share the ways in which they stand apart to achieve highly effective results for their clients while engaging in the profession of law in a responsible, respectful, resourceful and resilient manner. They describe their beliefs, values and experiences about successful case evaluation and show how thought is given to decision making from the moment a client walks in the door, through case preparation, mediation and settlement negotiations to the opening and closing statements at trial.

Kiser understands that the traditional analysis of legal decision making falls short of providing understanding of how masterful advocates make decisions. Attributes such as emotional intelligence, humility, perpetual learning, self-evaluation, creativity and independence are considered in the context of discussion on traditional topics such as liability, damages, judges, juries, experts, mediation, trial tactics and venues. Kiser describes how the best trial lawyers master the art of connecting with jurors and blend compassion with rationality.

“How Leading Lawyers Think” will read like a novel for those who are self-motivated and seeking to enhance their self-awareness, enhance their skills and connect in a meaningful way with all people in the legal system.  For those looking for concrete methods to improve their ability to take a client from the initial meeting to a successful outcome, the book provides a complete context to gain insightful perspectives about what really matters.  For the attorney who is intrinsically motivated “How Leading Lawyers Think” is an easy read full of ideas that can take their practice to the next level.  For those who are extrinsically motivated it’s a must read to see how the best achieve excellence and what the payoffs can be.

Readers will take away useful strategies to improve the quality of representation, an understanding of the importance of integrating explicit and tacit knowledge to improve decision making and an understanding of the personal and professional traits that give rise to reputations as advocates who excel. “How Leading Lawyers Think” is a  book that can be taken very deep, to understand how anyone involved in conflict resolution can become more self-aware and connected to others in the world that are touched by the disputes they handle and make them better human beings as they do so.

Monique McKay, LL.B., LL.M. and Robert A. Creo, Esquire

Monique McKay and Robert A. Creo are partners of Master Mediators LL.C and co-founders of The Master Mediator Institute.

(For more information on the Master Mediator Institute see:  http://mastermediatorinstitute.org/MMI/)

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Twelve Tips for Effective Communication; Tip Two: Plan Your Communication

Posted on July 11, 2011 by Bruce MacAllister

Have an outcome in mind and a plan to get there.

– Any important communication warrants advance planning.  You wouldn’t build a house without a floor plan.  Don’t have important meetings or discussions without a communication plan.

My last posting was the first in a series on our tips for communication and focused on setting a goal for your communication. In this closely related topic, we will discuss the importance of planning for any important communication. While we go about our day and have any number of unplanned, informal communications, when the outcome or impact of a communication has important implications, planning can be very helpful to a achieving a positive outcome.

In Dr. Stephen R. Covey’s best-selling book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, he describes seven things that his research revealed that many successful, effective people tend to do as a part of their overall style.  The second habit he describes is “Begin with the end in mind.”  Dr. Covey describes this habit as “based on imagination–the ability to envision in your mind what you cannot at present see with your eyes. It is based on the principle that all things are created twice. There is a mental (first) creation, and a physical (second) creation. The physical creation follows the mental, just as a building follows a blueprint. If you don’t make a conscious effort to visualize who you are and what you want in life, then you empower other people and circumstances to shape you and your life by default. …[1]”  The same can be said about approaching important communications.

So, how do we go about planning for an important communication?  Below, I discuss five key factors that, among others, are often important key elements to effectively planning a communication:

  1. Knowing who needs to participate and why.
  2. Understanding the issue and framing it in a relatable way.
  3. Knowing yourself and the needs and concerns you seek to address.
  4. Knowing the other participants and their needs, issues, and concerns.
  5. Having ideas for how to meet your needs while allowing the other participants to meet their needs.

I’ll discuss each of these elements in a little more detail next.

1. Knowing with Whom to Speak and Why.

It is important to know who should be involved in your communication for many, many reasons.  We will share more about some of these reasons in later posts, such as understanding the other’s decision-making and communication styles. For our purposes in this discussion, it is important to ask yourself the following questions and evaluate some of the considerations that flow from the questions.  First, does the person I seek to influence have control over the outcome I seek?  There is nothing much more frustrating than meeting with someone who can only listen and cannot act on your request, if you need action. Is there someone who, if not involved, can consciously or unconsciously overturn or sabotage the outcome of your meeting? If so, shouldn’t they be involved?

2. Understanding and Framing the Issue

Before setting about to gain commitment from someone or to influence their thinking about an issue or concern, it is critically important for you, yourself, to have a clear understanding of the issue and, perhaps even more importantly, what it is you seek.  I recall one meeting with an individual who was concerned about the way he perceived he was treated in his workplace.  When asked by his supervisor what it was he wanted, he responded “dignity.”  His supervisor did not have a clear understanding of what “dignity” would look like to the person and asked, “will that be one lump or two?”  Needless to say, both parties were somewhat frustrated by the lack of a clear request.  Once, the components of what “dignity” meant to the individual were clarified, it was not difficult to reach some mutual agreement around interactions. However, absent clarification, no progress would have been made.  So, as a person seeking change or to influence another, it is useful to be as clear and concrete as one possibly can, when seeking a commitment from another.  Do not go into a meeting without a clear and concrete vision of exactly what you want.

In addition to having clarity about your issue or concern, it is important to consider how you can frame your issue in a way that those with whom you communicate can clearly grasp it and relate to it.  Is there a construct or metaphor that your listener will readily relate to?  For example, several years ago, a professional colleague and I were asked to facilitate communication among a team of research collaborators.  The collaboration had broken down due to different styles and expectations among the participants. After hearing from all of the parties, it looked like the mutual preference of all involved was to dissolve the collaboration. As a consequence, my colleague and I agreed that the situation was actually now similar to a custody situation.  Understanding scientific researchers, we appreciated how close an individual can become to their work – almost like a family connection, we came back to the full group and framed the key issue as one of custody of the components of the research.  Framing the issue using this particular metaphor turned out to be very useful.  The parties immediately shared an understanding of the goal of the meeting and actually continued and extended the metaphor throughout the dialogue.  The outcome was a durable agreement involving ownership of key components of the on-going research project.

3. Know Yourself and Your Needs

Before you start your meeting, it is often important to review your own needs.  It is one thing to be clear and focused about your desired outcome, but it is another to be locked into a specific outcome at the expense of overlooking other opportunities that may actually serve your underlying interests better. By assessing your actual needs and long-term interests in advance, you can be more attuned to opportunities that you may not have thought of and which may actually provide better long-term opportunities. By understanding the larger context and where this particular interaction fits within that context, you can allow yourself the flexibility to consider and enhance your initial vision as you engage in dialogue.  Absent this deeper self-awareness coming into a meeting, it is easy to overlook opportunities and to lock oneself into a single option.

To be thoroughly self aware – especially when there is an emotional component to your concern can be extremely challenging. You may wish to “bounce” your concerns around with a trusted friend and have that person ask you clarifying questions.  At the very least, depending on your concern or issue, ask yourself the following questions:

  • Why is this important to me?
  • Does the opportunity to address this concern carry more benefit than the possible risk?
  • What do I want to come away with from this meeting?
  • What are the risks and downsides of raising this concern, and how do I minimize them?
  • How does seeking to address this concern affect my long-term goals?
  • What are acceptable alternatives beyond what I might be seeking today?

Once you have a clear idea of a range of outcomes that might be better than the status quo, you will be more fully prepared to engage.

4. Knowing the Other Participants’ Needs

It is important to have as deep an understanding as possible about the needs of the other(s) with whom you will be communicating.  Sometimes you already have a sense of their needs because they have shared them in some form.  Often, however, you may be left lacking a lot of information about what their needs might be.  If so, how does one go about discovering these needs? In order to gain a positive commitment, or to positively influence another, it is truly imperative that you have an understanding of their position, needs, and concerns may be.  In some cases you can gain much of this from collateral sources of information, such as mutual friends or work colleagues.  But absent collateral sources of information, how does one gain awareness of the other?  It may see surprising, but the most obvious approach may be simply to ask!

Earlier in this post, I made reference to Dr. Stephen R. Covey’s best-selling work, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Another adage or key habit that Dr. Covey discusses (Habit Five), is to “Seek first to understand, and then to be understood.”

Dr. Covey points out that most people tend to listen with the intent to reply, rather than listening for the awareness and insights one can gain into the needs and concerns of the other.  In future postings we will discuss deep listening in more detail. For our purposes today, the important point is to approach each meeting with a key goal of learning about the other before launching into a discussion of your own needs.  Plunging into a dialogue with another without this critical step is like diving head-first into a dark pond, not knowing how deep the water is.  You can save yourself and the other a lot of frustration and potentially wasted time, but knowing as much as you can of the other.  I can recount any number of times, when a person thought there was an issue, only to find out that the other person actually agreed with them from the outset.

The other benefit of seeking to understand the other first is that it sets a positive tone for the dialogue.  It’s amazing how spending a little time asking about the other and their needs and interest paints you as a “great listener.” Being likeable is a critical component to being successful in your communication.  And, being a good listener often enhances your likeability.

In future postings we will also speak more about knowing the other participant, in terms of their communication and decision-making styles, and the power of harnessing this knowledge for the purposes of positive influence.

5. Meeting Your Needs While Meeting the Needs of the Other

When you have a clear understanding of your needs as well as those of the other, you are in a far better position to develop positive outcomes that work for all involved. Many writers, including Dr. Covey (see for example his Habit Four: Win-Win Outcomes, and Habit Six: Synergy) speak of the value of seeking solutions that meet not only your needs, but those of the other(s).  In their ground-breaking work in negotiation research, Roger Fisher and William Ury, discuss the value of approaching conflict with the goal of a “win-win” outcome[2].  While, in my experience, seeking a win-win outcome no matter the energy involved and the deep-rooted can yield frustrating results[3], deeply appreciating and considering how you can meet your own needs while helping the other meet theirs is, in many cases, a very powerful tool.

As Steven Covey puts it “Win-win sees life as a cooperative arena, not a competitive one. Win-win is a frame of mind and heart that constantly seeks mutual benefit in all human interactions. Win-win means agreements or solutions are mutually beneficial and satisfying[4].”  When everyone sees advantages to the outcome arrived at, the odds of the outcome being durable and supported by many are greatly increased. Likewise, as Dr. Covey points out, “When people begin to interact together genuinely, and they’re open to each other’s influence, they begin to gain new insight. The capability of inventing new approaches is increased exponentially because of differences.[5]”

Conclusion

By having a clear vision of the interests you seek to further, and knowing how this might dovetail with the interests of others, you can greatly improve the chances of an effective outcome.  Approaching your concern with an appreciation of the others involved and their needs, enables you to approach a concern in a way that others may see as opportunity rather than threat. Spending time planning your important communication vastly improves the prognosis for a great outcome!

©Bruce J. MacAllister, July 2011

[1] For more information on Dr. Covey and his work, see https://www.stephencovey.com/7habits/7habits-habit2.php

[2] See, for example, Roger Fisher and William Ury’s book, Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In.

[3] The concept of “win-win” works well in high-level negotiations with multiple stakeholders and deep rooted issues, such as international negotiations.  However, for smaller, single issue issues, the win-win paradigm may actually add stress to approaching the issue. For example, the energy of seeking a “win-win” solution may exceed the benefit of the results when the issue is trivial and a simple commitment from another is not that unreasonable. Likewise, I have conducted many divorce mediations, where the operating construct of win-win may be unrealistic given that, under the best of circumstances, everyone is giving up something.


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Twelve Tools for Effective Communication; Part One — Set a goal for your communication

Posted on June 24, 2011 by Bruce MacAllister

Twelve Tools for Effective Communication

Introduction

In the coming weeks, we will be posting a series of articles expanding on our concept of twelve communication tools.  These tools are designed to help a person plan for and effectively execute an important conversation.  Of course every communication does not require extensive planning to execute or to be effective.  In fact, most comfortable dialogue happens in the absence of conscious planning and is the result of subconscious factors that we are not even aware of at the time.  But, what about those conversations that end in conflict, or those conversations that we don’t have because we avoid the discomfort of approaching the person or the topic? This series of articles is designed to help a person improve dialogue in situations where something has gone wrong in communications in the past, or something just seems to be currently lacking in the relationship and, as a result, dialogue with this particular person, or about this particular topic, seems stilted and uncomfortable.

Tool One: Set a goal for your communication

What is the reason for your communication?  Do you hope to surface and resolve an issue that is of concern to you?  Do you want to build a relationship with the person?  Do you hope to repair an injured relationship? Are you seeking a favor?  The approach and content of your communication may vary radically depending on the goal of the communication, so it is important to have a clear understanding in your own mind about what you hope to achieve in the dialogue.

Here are so examples of how understanding your goal might affect your approach:

If your goal in a communication is to rebuild a relationship after a negative encounter, your decision about how to approach the communication will be affected in many ways. We will speak in more detail as we explore communication further, but with this goal in mind you decision about when and where to have the communication will be definitely affected, as will your initial approach to opening dialogue.  In contrast, if your goal is simple rapport building a more casual approach in a variety of settings will work just fine.  Seeking a favor? – you may want to set the tone differently, so it is implied that you are willing to exchange a favor as well. Finally, if your goal is to voice a concern, you will undoubtedly want to spend some mental energy thinking about how to frame the concern in a way that is best calculated to reduce the potential that the listener will become angry or defensive.

What’s next?

In the upcoming series of blog articles, we will focus on issues and approaches, and share a number of tools and pointers on how to manage a wide variety of communications, when the outcome of the communication can be really significant – from getting a job or a raise, to addressing a serious area of potential conflict.

I hope you will enjoy this new series!

Bruce MacAllister, J.D.  June 2011


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New Articles and Postings

Posted on June 22, 2011 by Bruce MacAllister

There are two new articles posted in our Articles section of our website! One article includes the full text of the series of recent postings regarding leadership and leadership models. The second is a high-level summary of our upcoming series of Blog articles on Effective Communication. Watch in coming weeks for more detailed discussions on effective communication!

I hope you enjoy the new articles and find them useful!

Bruce MacAllister, June 2011

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The Five C’s of Leadership

Posted on June 13, 2011 by Bruce MacAllister

Leadership in Context – Final Installment

The FIVE “Cs” of Leadership; An overview of the attributes of leadership (continued)

In this final posting on the current topic of leadership, I complete our review of some of the different approaches to discussing the traits that are commonly identified with an effective leader.  Those of you who have read the previous postings will recall that I began the discussion with models that involved more simplified structures and approaches, and I have been progressively working through various models that involve greater and greater complexity and identified traits and leadership factors. I will then share my views about the common threads that become apparent in reviewing the research and publications.

John Maxwell’s The 21 Indispensible Qualities of a Leader

Before discussing the themes that develop in reviewing many of the popular works relating to leadership, our final review is of John C. Maxwell’s 1999 work, The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader. This book identifies – you guessed it – 21 qualities that his research shows maps to good leadership. Mr. Maxwell devotes a tidy chapter to each of the following attributes and provides interesting and enlightening anecdotes to illustrate what he means by each of the traits he discusses.  Because Maxwell’s list is broken into far more individual characteristics than most of the other authors, I will not go into detail relative to each trait.  The traits, as he characterizes them are fairly straightforward and, thus, more explanation on my part is not really necessary.  The traits identified by Maxwell in his work are:

•Character
•Charisma
•Commitment
•Communication
•Competence
•Courage
•Discernment
•Focus
•Generosity
•Initiative
•Listening
•Passion
•Positive Attitude
•Problem-solving
•Relationships
•Responsibility
•Self-Secure
•Self-Disciplined
•Servanthood
•Teachability
•Visionary

Summary and Themes

We have now reviewed five leading researchers and authors whose work in the field of leadership is widely recognized for their significant contributions. Having recently re-read each of these writer’s works, themes became clear to me in the process.  After reviewing the writer’s works that I have discussed in this series, I found that I could sum up the qualities of someone who is an effective leader in five words.

The effective leader is someone who is:

  • Capable – they are good at what they do and have the proper balance of depth and breadth of subject-matter expertise to enable them develop a vision and a properly-scoped focus, execute on that vision, generate gates and be self-assured and self-confident without being arrogant.
  • Committed – the best leaders have a strong sense of self-mastery.  They demonstrate character and courage, initiative and passion.  Their passion and courage is balanced by their sense of responsibility to something larger than themselves and a sense of self-discipline.
  • Connected – they like people and value relationships. They have a natural power with people, charisma, and an ability to create coalitions.  They value their connectedness with others and tend to have extensive and diverse networks that they draw on for their support. Because of their connectedness, they have built in support and a greater, more natural opportunity to anchor new approaches among the larger community.
  • Communicative – effective leadership demands effective communication. The most effective leaders are dynamic communicators who can sell their vision effectively to others and generate excitement in the process. However, effective communication goes well beyond just the ability to be highly persuasive. The best leaders demonstrate that they are also great listeners, who allow themselves to be influenced by the thoughts and inputs of others. They are teachable, and in the process they garner wider support and shared ownership for their vision and strategy because others, likewise, feel ownership.
  • Caring – finally, effective leaders have a strong sense of servanthood.  They are recognized as giving to their community and being generous in sharing their time, expertise, personal support, and positive attitude to further something larger than themselves.

I have mapped the traits that the leading authors identified into the table below to illustrate how the “Five C’s of Leadership” really do emerge, as one reviews the literature.

The Five “Cs” of Leadership

The Five C’s of Leadership
Capable Committed Connected Communicative Caring
Maven Self-mastery Connector Sales people Giving
Focus Create a sense of urgency Power with People Persuasive
Execution Character Create a coalition Communicate the Change Vision Empowering Broad-based action
Vision & Strategy Commitment Anchor New Approaches in Culture Listening Generosity
Generate Gains Courage Charisma Teachable Positive Attitude
Consolidate Gains Focus Relationships Servanthood
Capable Initiative
Discernment Passion
Problem-solving Responsibility
Self-security Self-discipline
Vision

For a full-color chart click this link: The Five C’s of Leadership -Full Color Chart

Conclusion

I hope that those of you who are interested in the field of leadership training and development find this series of postings interesting and helpful.  In the near future, I will post the entire article on our Articles section on the website.  Please feel free to post a comment or to contact me with questions, challenges, additional thoughts, or other comments!

Bruce MacAllister – June 2011

 


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An Update on Recent Activities

Posted on June 13, 2011 by Bruce MacAllister

Recent Activities

You may have noticed that my next posting on leadership has not yet appeared on our blog.  Frankly, this is because, as the blog’s principal editor, I simply got too busy.  My apologies to anyone who has been waiting for the next posting! It will be posted today!

Meanwhile, here is an update of recent activities. Naturally, I have taken pains to ensure that my clients’ confidentiality and privacy are protected in this discussion, where appropriate.

A large organizational assessment for a complex legal services organization

Recently we completed a comprehensive organizational assessment of a large law office that supports a diverse set of organizations.  The assessment included interviewing each attorney and member of the staff of the organization and identifying themes and barriers to full productivity.  A set of intervention measures was implemented, including some structural changes.  The organization now reports that the office is functioning more optimally and sources of conflict have been eliminated.

Facilitating Environmental Impact Hearings for the United States Department of Energy for construction of new facilities at Los Alamos National Laboratory

In compliance with the National Environmental Protection Act, the Department of Energy hosted comment sessions around Northern New Mexico, seeking citizen input regarding the construction of a new facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Because the facility is intended to support research in nuclear materials, its construction is controversial among segments of the community who disagree with the current national approach to weapons and nuclear research.  Several of the sessions were animated and required extensive patience and finesse as the meeting’s moderator.

Los Alamos National Security Corporation (LANS) also requested meeting facilitation for several additional meetings relating to pending requests for approval of environmental plans for open detonation of waste high explosive material and for storm water management.  These meetings were productive and generally collaborative.

Court-referred mediation

The New Mexico District Court continues to experience a high volume in foreclosure law suites and is using its court-referred foreclosure mediation program actively as a means to reduce formal foreclosures stemming from the economic downturn and the collapse in the real estate market.  As a trained mediator for the courts, I continue to manage I high volume of mediations for the program.

Training and consulting for implementing ombudsman programs

I have continued my work with a large professional realty association to assist it in implementing a new ombudsman program.  The association sees the ombudsman approach as a great way to improve access to members of the community who have questions or concerns about an interaction with the realtor community. The program is being carefully and comprehensively implemented with ombudsman candidates carefully screened and extensively trained.  Full implementation should occur as early as late summer 2011.

Additionally, the New Mexico Governor’s Office has requested information about the potential use of ombuds programs to enhance public access to government.  I am working with a small group of colleagues to provide information and possible approaches and options for using the ombudsman approach.

Facilitating strategic planning for non-profits

We recently completed our work to facilitate strategic planning for the Board of Directors for a small, business-oriented non-profit.  The resulting product was the production of a living 97-page strategic planning document, which includes specific measures for the next two years, refines the organization’s focus, and produced a new vision for the organization in the process. Many action items that were identified in the plan have already been completed and the organization’s CEO is delighted to have a document with metrics, against which, the organization can demonstrate progress.

Coming projects

As this update is posted, number of new projects are in the works, including new mediation work for a large federal agency client, many court-referred mediations, and developing parameters and plans for launching a collaborative conference to be co-hosted by the Master Mediator Institute and several other scientific and academic organizations as collaborators. Certainly much more will be posted as the project develops!

 

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Change Leadership – Our Continuing Review of Leadership Traits

Posted on May 15, 2011 by Bruce MacAllister

More models leading to the FIVE “Cs” of Leadership; An overview of the attributes of leadership

In my last posting, I described several more approaches to leadership and leadership paradigms, as described by writers and scholars such as Mark Sanborn and Malcolm Gladwell.  This posting describes yet another and somewhat more complex model, focusing on change leadership.

John Kotter’s Leading Change

John Kotter is a Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Leadership, Emeritus, at the Harvard Business School.  In his 1996 book, Leading Change, he describes an eight-stage process for change leadership.

The eight stages he discusses are:

1. Creating a sense of urgency

Kotter explains that a major barrier to implementing change is complacency.  He gives examples of organizations, which even in the face of collapsing profits maintained a leisurely pace and focused on marginally relevant issues, while ignoring the many indexes of poor performance or downright failure. The sources of complacency, Kotter explains, are many and complex. Kotter believes that organizations caught in this syndrome, can rarely break the complacency cycle, unless individuals within the organization raise the level of urgency relative to necessary change – even to the point of driving the situation to crisis in order to generate support for change.

2. Building a coalition

Because major change is difficult to sustain, Kotter, believes that driving it through the energies of one dynamic leader, can be create a tenuous situation.  To sustain change, Kotter recommends building a guiding coalition composed of the right balance of power, expertise, influence, credibility and Leadership.  He describes pitfalls to building this coalition and cautions that there are types of individuals who are not good fits – principally those with large egos, and those who create mistrust through their behaviors.

3. Developing vision & strategy

Vision is essential to change; yet an ill-crafted, poorly communicated vision is less likely to motivate support. Kotter explains that, to be most effective, the vision shared can’t not come across as autocratic or highly authoritarian.  Neither can it come across as mind-bogglingly detailed or micro-managing.  The most effective change visions are clear, simple, and the advantages are communicated simply, and directly.  Likewise they are easy for others to see.

4. Communicating the change vision

Kotter explains that the real power of a vision comes when most of those involved have a clear understanding of the goals and directions. Thus, an effective approach to communicating the goals and directions is essential. Kotter describes what he sees as the key elements of effective communication of vision:

  • Simplicity;
  • Effective use of metaphor and analogy;
  • Multiple approaches and forums;
  • Repetition;
  • Leadership by example;
  • Clarification; and,
  • Reasonable give and take in the communication.

5. Empowering broad-based action

For change to take root, broad support is required.  People must be empowered to act. Barriers to empowerment should be identified and eliminated. Assuming that employees understand the vision and are committed to it, barriers such as structural impediments, lack of necessary skills, lack of staff or information, and resistance from senior personnel must be addressed.

6. Generating success

Change builds momentum when its supporters can demonstrate tangible advantages, real improvement, and measurable gains. These gains demonstrate that the discomfort of change is work it and it undermines resistance and critics.

7. Consolidating gains and building on them

Kotter explains that resistance is always waiting to reassert itself, and that change must be consolidated. The real challenge comes when trying to implement change in highly interdependent systems. It pays to eliminate unnecessary interdependencies and to constantly reinforce the improvements.

8. Anchoring the approaches in the culture

Anchoring the changes deeply into the organizations culture is critical.  If the change process rests on a current group of individuals, and is not integrated into the norms of the organization, it is highly likely that, when key players depart the organization, others will revert to the old and the familiar. Key to sustaining the change is understanding, as Kotter puts it, that culture change comes last, not first. Sustainability also depends on demonstrated results, constant reinforcement, potential removal of key change resisters, and succession planning that anticipates the need for sustaining the change momentum through staff transitions.

Conclusion

The challenges of the 21st Century will require adaptability to a rapidly changing environment brought on by technology and volatile social conditions.  The organizations that are most effective at responding to change and, in fact, inducing it and capitalizing on it, will be the organizations to thrive.

Bruce MacAllister, May 2011

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Important Upcoming Public Hearings and Meetings!

Posted on May 9, 2011 by Bruce MacAllister

In the next few weeks I will be facilitating six very important public meetings involving environmental issues and facilities planning.  Anyone interested in having input to the future of the area and in providing planning officials at Los Alamos National Laboratory with valuable input, should plan to attend.  There will be six meetings to share information and receive input involving three very important topics: 

  • The LANL NPDES Storm Water Individual Permit Project Update Meeting, on Tuesday, May 17, 2011 from 5:30 – 7:30; at the Cities of Gold Hotel, in Pojoaque, NM;

As advertised in Sunday's Santa Fe New Mexican

 

  • The LANL  RCRA Permitting Meeting on Open Detonation, on Wednesday, May 18, 2011, from 5:30– 7:30 at the White Rock Town Hall, White Rock, NM.

     

  • The NNSA public hearings sessions in connection with the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for the Nuclear Facility Portion of the CMRR project at LANL.  Meetings will be held in four locations, including Albuquerque, Los Alamos, Española, and Santa Fe, NM.  Doors open for theses meetings at 5:00 pm and the meetings will conclude at 9:00 p.m. (See the image for location information.)
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement Meetings

As advertised in Sunday's Santa Fe New Mexican

I hope all concerned citizens will take advantage of the opportunity to attend these meetings and participate in the process!

Bruce MacAllister, Monday, May 9, 2011

Posted in Environmental Impact Statement, Facilitation, Los Alamos National Laboratory, MacAllister, NNSA, Public Meeting Facilitation, RCRA, Upcoming topics | Tagged | Leave a comment

Leadership in Context, continued

Posted on April 28, 2011 by Bruce MacAllister

Leadership in Context – Continued

More models leading to the FIVE “Cs” of Leadership; An overview of the attributes of leadership

In my last posting, I described some approaches to leadership and leadership paradigms.  This posting describes some other, more complex models, which describe leadership attributes.

Mark Sanborn, “You Don’t Need a Title to be a Leader”

In Mark Sanborn’s “You Don’t Need a Title to be a Leader, Sanborn describes is model with focuses on  “ROI,”  Relationships, Outcomes, Improvements. He describes six attributes of leadership, which he believes are key:

•Self-Mastery,
•Focus,
•Power with People,
• Communication,
•Execution,
•Giving.

Simply stated, self-mastery boils down to managing your “self-mastery matrix,” which measures the promises you make versus the promises you keep.

Focus involves the ability to set an agenda, to identify your priorities, and to essentially, “live intentionally.”

Sanborn characterizes power with people as stemming from character, competence, and connection.  For example, being honest and saying “I don’t know” when someone asks you something that you honestly don’t know. Being good at what you do, and having the orientation to build people up and to motivate them.

Communication, as Sanborn uses it, refers to a person’s ability to build connection and create rapport with the ultimate goal of shard understanding. Effective communication results in an effective ability to positively influence others.

Execution, as Sanborn describes it, relates to one’s “IQ.” In this instance IQ does not refer to intelligence quotient, but to implementation quotient.  Effective leaders have proven abilities to envision an outcome and to achieve it.

Finally, Sanborn posits that effective leaders are giving. Effective leaders give because it is satisfying and fulfilling to them. They don’t expect recognition, and yet they are recognized and appreciated by those who work with them.

As the postings on leadership continue, I hope you begin to see the common themes that emerge.  My next posting will discuss two more books that focus on the attributes of leadership.  In my final posting will describe the Business Excellence Solutions model of leadership, which is based on the Five C’s of Leadership.

Bruce MacAllister April 2011

 

 

 

Posted in Communication, Connector, Execution, Five C's of Leadership, Focus, Power with people, Self-Mastery | Tagged | Leave a comment

The Five C’s of Leadership, Part I.

Posted on April 9, 2011 by Bruce MacAllister

Leadership in Context

The FIVE “Cs” of Leadership; An overview of the attributes of leadership

Overview

We all know people who are “natural leaders,” but is there really any such thing?  What is it about people who are recognized as effective in their own particular context that makes them stand out?  Leaders come in many varieties and are found in many settings.  Often the most influential people in the particular context have no official status or title, but have a certain something that makes them the person who gets things done, sets the priorities, are influences others disproportionately. What makes someone a leader?  We all know managers who are reasonably good functionaries, yet, in reality, have few management skills.  Likewise, we all know individuals who, with or without a formal title, can inspire others and stimulate results well beyond the norm.  The focus of this article is to look at those factors that contribute to leadership: leadership in context.

Outside of a formal title or official positions, what is leadership? The leadership acumen of people in even top-level positions, such as the President of the United States, or top military generals, is often questioned.  Did the President exert adequate influence to bring the parties together for a successful legislative outcome? Have the “top brass” of the military adequately set the tone for gender equality? Of course, there are many other examples of similar questions illustrating that we view leadership as something quite separate from position or rank.

What, therefore, are the key attributes of people who are effective at what they do and successful in leading others to share in and benefit from effective change? Perhaps more books and articles have been written about leadership than any other business- or community-related topic. So, to prepare this article I reviewed the library of leadership books and articles to see what common threads emerged. Interestingly, I found that most leadership articles and even complex models seem to focus on many duplicate and overlapping attributes.

The “Five C’s” of Leadership

What I found from researching and comparing the various models of leadership was that that the best leaders have a balanced leadership score card, which includes:

  • Commitment
  • Connection
  • Competence
  • Communication, and
  • Caring

Models of Leadership

Bradford & Cohen, Managing for Excellence

I reviewed a range of leadership books, their focus, and the models that many of them expounded. Some were simple and direct. For example, the time-tested, outstanding work by David L. Bradford and Allan R. Cohen in their 1984 book, Managing for Excellence, focuses on some fundamental criteria which, to this day, have proven to be essential elements for effective leadership. Naturally, their work contains much more, but two key aspects that are beautifully articulated are:

  • Heroic versus Post-Heroic Leadership, and
  • The leader as a Technician or as a Conductor.

The “Heroic Leader” is one who believes that he or she must:

  • Must know all the time what is going on in detail within the work unit;
  • Must have more technical expertise than any subordinate;
  • Is responsible for solving every problem that arises within the work unit; and,
  • Is the primary person responsible for how the department is working.

Bradford and Cohen discuss two different leadership approaches labeled as the leader as a technician or the leader as a conductor. Ostensibly both approaches to leadership have their utility.  The technician leader approach can be effective when the leader truly does have greater knowledge than the subordinates in every facet of the work. This can sometimes be true at the production level or the bench level where the task are well-defined and there are people coming in to perform them that must be mentored.  However, in today’s climate of more complex working structures, it is difficult to impossible for the leader of multi- or cross-disciplinary working units to honestly have the deepest knowledge in all aspects.

These more complex working structures or expanded scope of management responsibility within the hierarchy, call for leaders who approach the work as a “conductor.” The conductor manager views their role as accomplishing the work through others. They focus on setting the goals and priorities, and ensuring that workers are supported and resources, but make no pretenses of being the lead technician.

In the three decades that I have worked with leaders as an organizational development, and conflict resolution consultant, I have seen more leaders flounder because they have failed to make the transition from heroic, technician leader to a conductor leader as they were placed in positions of higher responsibility. Ironically, even today, many workers in complex, diverse workplace settings, still expect and attempt to demand of their leaders the somewhat mutually exclusive expectations that the leader should be most experienced technician, and a conductor.  I recently worked with a group of professionals working in an extremely diverse setting that called for deep expertise in many complex areas. The staff complained in the same breath that they were “micro-managed” yet at the same time expected that their leader should be able to demonstrate to them that he had the deepest professional expertise in each of the many highly complex areas of the work.  The incongruence of their expectations did not occur to them until I walked them through the paradox and helped them explore just what they truly valued in a leader within their organization.

Malcolm Gladwell,  The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

In Malcolm Gladwell’s best-selling book, The Tipping Point, published in 2000 the former Washington Post and now New Yorker writer reviews, among other fascinating topics, why some people are capable of wider impact and influence than others. He points to three critical factors that seem to distinguish those capable of deeper influence and leadership:

  • Connectors;
  • Mavens; and,
  • Salespeople.

Among his many examples, Gladwell shares the contrasting stories of Paul Revere and William Dawes.  Unknown to many, both Dawes and Revere were tasked with a “midnight ride” to warn of the coming of the British.  Why then do we remember and glorify Paul Revere and not know anything of Dawes?  Gladwell explains the difference. Paul Revere was a gregarious person who connected with many people and was well known and well liked in the community.  When he set out in his ride he knew individually many people in the townships that he contacted. He made his contacts, and people liked and trusted him and responded.  Dawes? Dawes was an ordinary guy.  Dawes made the ride sure enough, but he really had no idea who to contact. Thus he rode through the deserted boroughs of New England and encountered few people, and even fewer responded.

Gladwell also identifies two additional key attributes of influence: The “Mavin,” who is someone who has deep knowledge of a relevant area and serves as a mentor and resource to others. He also identifies the “Salesperson,” who is someone with acute communication and persuasion skills. We will have much more to say about communication skills in future posts.

In my next posting, I will describe more leadership models and their criteria and conclude with a full discussion of Leadership to the Principles of the Five “Cs.”

Bruce MacAllister, J.D.,  Senior Principal

 

Posted in Connector, Five C's of Leadership, Heroic Leader, Leader as Conductor, Leader as Technician, Leadership, Maven, Post-heroic Leadership | Tagged | Leave a comment