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Stretch Goals Make the Impossible Happen In January, many of us set goals for ourselves in the form of New Year’s resolutions. Most are relatively safe and predictable: eat better, lose 10 pounds, call mom more often, grab a book instead of binging Netflix. While not necessarily easy, they aren’t exactly audacious or bold. Even so, by now, many of us have already fallen off the proverbial wagon and gone back to our old ways. I’ve been wondering lately if playing it small in our resolutions is part of the problem. What if, instead of going for timid shifts, we went bigger? What if we set stretch goals instead of safe goals? Dare to Dream Stretch goals are precisely what they sound like: aims so high that it is a real, well, stretch to hit them. Stretch goals are scary because they are tough to achieve. The likelihood of not reaching them is high. Stretch goals take you beyond your comfort zone, your usual ways of thinking and acting. They can push your body and mind to uncomfortable places. But the benefits of setting stretch goals–even if your reach proves to exceed your grasp–are also outsized. Stretch goals are both aspirational and potentially attainable, and the possibility, even if it’s slim, of achieving them, changes something in us. It lifts our gaze, makes us believe that new levels of success and achievement are possible. Stretch goals can make overcoming even the most intractable challenge or deep-rooted problem seem possible. Personal Stretch Goals Build Purpose While stretch goals are a perennial subject of interest in business, they aren’t relegated to the boardroom or the c-suite. Leaders who set stretch goals outside of the office have much to gain, both in their personal and professional lives. That’s because goals give us purpose. And it follows that, the bigger and bolder the goal, the more purpose it can impart. Going after stretch goals also builds resilience and persistence, and this ability to face and overcome adversity is a superpower in all areas of life. Stretch goals can unlock new levels of motivation, energy and enthusiasm. They also release us from the hum-drum expectations of mediocrity. When you dream big and shoot for the moon, you are forcing yourself to get out of your comfort zone, sparking new levels of creativity and innovation. So, What's Your Impossible? It’s hard to break our mental conditioning, to imagine what seems impossible may, in fact, be attainable. It can be easy to set limits on ourselves and think or say “that could never happen” or “I could never do that” or “only in my dreams.” Speaking of dreams, as yourself: What things do I keep telling myself could never happen? In a perfect world where everything is possible, what would I want to happen in my life or business? What have I always dreamed of doing? If I had $10 million and no strings attached, what would I do with it? If I could have any job, do anything, go anywhere, what would I do? Notice anything about this list? Stretch goals are about working towards your dreams. You have to care about your stretch goal, and deeply, otherwise, you’ll never have the motivation to try. It has to matter to you. So grab a pen and paper, and think about then write down the “impossible” that you want. Think about your work, family, career, business, health and friendships. Write as many down as come to mind. Don’t edit yourself, don’t rationalize, just free-write for now. Here are a few other questions to think about: What area of life would you like to grow in? What one thing, if you did it, would have the greatest impact on your life? On your career? Family? Business? What would you do if there were no barriers and if nothing was impossible? What one thing have you always dreamed of doing but always told yourself that you couldn’t or that it was impossible? Look back on what you wrote. What’s your personal moonshot? If you have multiple potential goals, pick one. Ask yourself, “if everything remained the same, what one idea/goal/desire would have the greatest impact on my life if completed?” A Note on Impossibility If you’re thinking, “yeah, but…” then consider this: we live in a world of impossibility, surrounded by the achievements and advancements of those who were told their dreams and ideas could never be achieved. Those who set goals that they believed possible, even if others didn’t. Stretch goals aren’t just for exceptionally gifted people or geniuses. Everyone with the guts to set radical expectations for themselves can have them. "The great danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark." –Michelangelo Build Your Stretch Success In the beginning, if you have a low level of belief, it’s OK to start small. Once you start to get some wins, dial things up. Increase the “impossibility” of your goals. For example, if your goal is to run a marathon, break it down into sub-goals: Run a 5k in 2 months Run my first 7 miles in 4 months. Run 4 times a week. Or if your goal is to pay off your mortgage in five years, maybe your sub-goals are to: Review your household expenses Create a household budget Eliminate frill expenditures Set a monthly contribution Remember, the dogged, focused pursuit of your goals, not just their attainment, is what really matters. Even if you don’t quite make your mark, you will learn so much about yourself. You will grow. You will become more resilient, more brave, more creative. And maybe, just maybe, you’ll actually do the impossible.

Leader as Organizational Architect, Part 2 In our last post on aligning an organization’s systems, structures, processes and culture, we discussed some of the ways misalignment creates friction that drags down performance. But when an organization makes the necessary changes to reach align the organizational architecture, something amazing can happen. We call it “organizational gravity” – the often unseen forces that pull performance toward the strategy. The more well-aligned the systems, structures, processes and culture are, the stronger the gravitational pull toward the purpose and strategy. As one leader told us, “Then everything just flows, like the tides.” It’s the responsibility of leaders to create organizational gravity. But leaders often don’t see themselves as architects of their organization’s systems, structures, processes and culture. It’s hard to manage a force you don’t recognize. So when they fall out of alignment, leaders see only the symptoms, not the underlying problem. What’s it Take to get a Cup of Coffee? Re-structure the Organization We worked with a resort that had a vast array of properties, including a restaurant attached to its golf shop. The restaurant opened at 8 a.m. Early bird golfers would arrive at 6:30 and find they couldn’t get a cup of coffee before starting their round. Why? Because the resort was organized by function. The food and beverage people were responsible for the coffee in the restaurant, and they had no interest in opening the restaurant before 8. That would just stretch their personnel, drive up their costs and make their internal reports look worse. The resort suffered multiple problems because of this structure. In another example, the golf shop’s carpets were dirty many mornings, because another functional group, housekeeping, kept a schedule that brought them to the shop in the afternoon. The team members in the golf shop realized the negative impact this was having on their customers, who grumbled that they couldn’t get a simple cup of coffee for an early tee time or were put off by a messy golf shop if they happened to stop by in the morning. But no one felt they could fix the problems – until they realigned the structure. They blew up the organization. Jobs were no longer organized by function. Instead, they created dozens of small business units throughout the resort, including a golf shop “business unit.” Once the workers in the golf shop became responsible for the shop’s performance as a mini-business, they made sure golfers could get coffee at early hours and the carpets were clean throughout the day. Once they re-organized, the transformation was quick and thorough. All it took was the leap of faith to allow the shattering of the resort’s organizational structure with the purpose of recreating it in a more logical way. Want Teamwork? Change How you Hire and Who Gets Promoted Another organization we worked with wanted to make a significant shift away from purely individual contribution, to a more team-oriented approach. They found themselves struggling to make the shift. Ultimately though they changed their compensation system to reflect the new strategic priorities. They also changed their recruitment and selection processes to find people who were more team-oriented (without sacrificing the critical technical/functional capabilities they needed to be successful). Finally, they also aligned their talent management and succession planning systems to promote leaders more aligned with the company’s strategy. As those systems and processes came into alignment, the “unseen” forces began to pull the organization in the direction they wanted to go. Most academics and change consultants suggest that making a broad-based change in an organization takes five to seven years. It doesn’t have to be that way. We’ve found time and again that when we align the organization’s systems, structures, processes and culture, the time frame for change can be cut dramatically. Efforts to align the architecture are not always easy. They certainly are not as easy as making idle proclamations like, “People just need to take ownership” or “Everyone just needs to work together.” While both might be true statements, merely saying them doesn’t change the “nature” of the organization. So, behavior is unlikely to change just because someone says them. Aligning the organizational architecture is harder, but ultimately far more effective at changing behavior. And, as John Kruk , the former baseball player once said, “It’s not rocket surgery.” Aligning the architecture does take a little effort and then some patience as those “unseen forces” begin to exert their influence. Then, like the leader said, everything begins “to flow like the tides.” Intrigued by what you’re reading? Download our white paper on converting strategy into execution and learn more about us by visiting our website . WhiteWater International Consulting, Inc. helps organizations understand the challenges they face and helps enterprises achieve and sustain outstanding performance through unleashing the passion and capabilities of its people. Because an organization is only as good at the people who power it. Leader as Organizational Architect.

Courageous Communications, Part 1 “Precision of communication is important, more important than ever, in our era of hair trigger balances, when a false or misunderstood word may create as much disaster as a sudden thoughtless act.” Who said that, and when? Answer below. (No skipping ahead!) “The ability to get along with others is always an asset, right?” writes Chris Argyris in “Skilled Incompetence” (Harvard Business Review, September 1986). “Wrong! By adeptly avoiding conflict with co-workers, some executives eventually wreak organizational havoc. And it’s their very adeptness that’s the problem.” It should almost go without saying that communications are at the core of organizations that most effectively translate Strategy-to-Execution. Yet, you don’t have to look far to find organizations (intact work teams, project team, departments, whole organizations) that fall short of effective execution because their communications fall short in one or more ways. This series of posts will address one common cause of communication problems: fear of conflict. We’ll talk about the need for courageous communications, how to conduct them and the damage an organization can sustain by avoiding them. “What we have here is a failure to communicate” In any number of organizations we go into, “Communications” is one of the lowest rated items on their Employee Engagement Surveys or Culture Surveys. As The Captain said in Cool Hand Luke, “What we have here is a failure to communicate.” And, that failure is literally never about the number of newsletters your organization publishes. So, you can’t solve this by merely sending out more broadcast communications, or tweeting more or cleaning up the company web-site. While there are a lot of reasons that cause communications gaps, they often boil down to this: “We got stuff we need to talk about that we’re not talking about. And, frankly, if you’re a senior leader in this organization, you often don’t even know we’re not talking about it.” As a result, “Communicate, Communicate, Communicate” is one of the critical foundation elements of our Strategy-to-Execution (S2X™) framework. (See our full Whitepaper on the topic.)  Leaning into healthy conflict and not avoiding it is critical. As the Argyris quote points out, our underlying “thinking” is often that the ability to avoid conflict is a good thing. Yet, nothing could be further from the truth. And, what he wrote in 1986 is at least as true today as it was then. We have literally 100’s of examples where organizations were avoiding healthy conflict to a debilitating effect. We’ll tell one of them in the next post. By the way, while we think the need for dramatically better communications, and the ability to deal with conflict, is critical today, that quote at beginning of this post, was from author James Thurber… …in 1916. Intrigued by what you’re reading? Download our white paper on converting strategy into execution and learn more about us by visiting our website . WhiteWater International Consulting, Inc. helps organizations understand the challenges they face and helps enterprises achieve and sustain outstanding performance through unleashing the passion and capabilities of its people. Because an organization is only as good at the people who power it.

Courageous Communications, Part 2 “I’m Only Telling you this because I’m leaving the company” What Happens When Leaders Forgo Courageous Communications In our last post, we talked about the difficulty many people have telling their colleagues the hard truths. This post will tell a story of the debilitating effect of stifling these conversations. The conversation we started to have… I was working with several levels of leadership – about 35 people in total – in a division of manufacturing company. It was a Strategy-to-Execution S2X™ session designed to identify and eliminate roadblocks to more effective execution. We did a series of break-out sessions to get everyone engaged in the conversation. After one round of break-outs, the groups were asked to share what they had come up with. A frontline supervisor in one of the groups, Bob (not his real name), brought up an issue that the organization typically resolved very adeptly. It was truly not a big deal and in about five minutes of conversation with the group of 35 leaders, the issue was resolved. As we were wrapping up the conversation, another person in Bob’s break-out group said, “I’d just point out that Bob would not have brought that up if he wasn’t leaving the company on Friday.” The conversation we needed to have… WHAT? Hold the phone. “Let me re-phrase … Bob would not have brought up a relatively minor issue, that this group just resolved in five minutes, except for the fact that he’s leaving the company in a couple of days? I have to know…why?” The question was followed by … dead silence. Much uncomfortable shifting in seats. Quite a few people looking down at their shoes I guess to check them to see if they were well shined. And they sure as hell were not going to look up to engage in what had quickly become a very uncomfortable conversation. After much digging and prodding, we ended up having an excellent conversation. (We took a two-hour side trip into this issue, but it was far more critical than the discussion we started out to have). Most of the group admitted that they didn’t feel comfortable addressing issues with their peers or their leaders because they felt the level of trust within the organization was not high enough to support it. It was also obvious that some of them lacked the personal courage or the skills to address the conflicts they needed to address. Finally, it became clear that senior leaders in the organization were unaware that people weren’t addressing issues that needed to be addressed. What about the rest of the participants? Well, they were adamant that “they didn’t have any issues that they had not addressed with others.” More on that below. The Follow-up… I was back in that company about a month later as a follow-up to our initial conversation. A couple fascinating facts emerged: First, it turned out that Bob’s issue with communicating with his manager (let’s call him Alex) went back more than 20 years to when he and Alex had been peers in another organization. One had turned down an invitation to the other’s house for dinner. That was it. The two never talked it out, and the resentment followed them over the years to their new employer. Their conflict had, to some extent, infected communication among the entire management team. All because two people had avoided talking about a conflict from more than 20 years earlier. Second, remember all those people who said in the initial workshop that “they didn’t have any issues they hadn’t addressed with anyone else?” All of them pulled me aside at some point during my visit and copped to the fact that they, too, had issues that they’d had to sort out with one or more of their peers. And, they all also talked about how liberating it had been to finally hold those courageous communications, and get issues out on the table that they had been avoiding talking about. It also became clear that since they couldn’t talk about routine issues that the organization typically ate for breakfast, they surely were not talking about far more tricky issues around quality, performance, hand-offs between work-groups, etc. By learning how to hold more courageous communications, they quickly evolved to a much more productive culture and performance. In our next two posts, we will discuss how to assess your organization’s ability to manage conflict and provide a simple road map to help you conduct those courageous communications constructively. Intrigued by what you’re reading? Download our white paper on converting strategy into execution and learn more about us by visiting our website . WhiteWater International Consulting, Inc. helps organizations understand the challenges they face and helps enterprises achieve and sustain outstanding performance through unleashing the passion and capabilities of its people. Because an organization is only as good at the people who power it.

Courageous Communications, Part 3: Preparing for the Tough Conversations Actor and director Stephen Moyer says, “Conflict is drama, and how people deal with conflict shows you the kind of people they are.” Having worked with and observed thousands of leaders over the years, how they deal with the conflict inherent in difficult conversations is one of the critical distinguishing characteristics that separates average leaders from great leaders. But how do you go about holding the uncomfortable conversations that are likely to produce conflict and drama, in the interest of moving your organization forward? How do great leaders handle what we call Courageous Communications differently from other leaders? In this post, we’ll discuss how the most effective leaders prepare for their Courageous Communications. In our next post, we’ll discuss how to handle those conversations as effectively as possible. As you read this post, it might be helpful to think of a real issue you might be facing with someone you work with – your manager, a peer or someone who reports to you. At the end of this post, there will be a few questions to help you think through how well you are prepared to tackle the courageous communication that is necessary. PREPARATION IS KEY The most effective leaders prepare on at least two levels for their courageous communications. Thinking Differently about Conflict First, they “think” (their assumptions, beliefs, perceptions, etc.) differently about taking on conflict than less effective leaders do. They know they will need to hold the difficult conversations and are fully comfortable with that responsibility…even if the conversations themselves might be extremely uncomfortable. Previously, we’ve discussed the Thinking-Action-Outcomes model. Effective leaders’ “thinking” recognizes that conflict, handled well, is a positive force, not something that should be avoided at all costs. When choosing to act, they also recognize that they ultimately are trying to engage people in the journey. Less effective leaders shy away from the conflict. They may “think” that “conflict is bad.” Or, they want to be liked and are afraid that holding the difficult conversations will erode their “likability.” Hence, they avoid it, which paradoxically creates more of the disruption they were trying to avoid in the first place. Effective leaders also create trusting environments in which effective conflict can occur.  One of the best performing senior executives I’ve had the opportunity to work with operates by what he describes as the Hippocratic Oath for Leaders: “I mean you no harm.” He feels his role as leader is to help the organization and every individual be the best they can be. So, his team – including managers, peers and direct reports –get tough feedback, but always from a caring/trusting perspective. They know he has their best interest, and that of their organization, at heart. (And, is the living embodiment of what we think is one of the great paradoxes of great leaders: Tough AND Caring. More on that in some future post.) It’s no coincidence that organizations that deal with conflict and courageous communications most effectively, also have higher levels of trust and trustworthiness. They treat tough conversations as a natural part of who they are and not something to be avoided. And, because the environment is positive, and non-respectful behavior isn’t tolerated, you see less of the horrific behavior representing years of systemic abuse that have been so prevalent in the news the last few weeks. In strong cultures, people know that disrespectful behavior by anyone at any level will be dealt with and not covered up. And, senior leaders embrace their roles as stewards of the organization’s values, not the worst offenders. Acting Differently The second level of preparedness is about how more effective leaders act as they prepare for a courageous communication. More effective leaders prepare for difficult conversations by addressing three questions: 1. Does this conflict need to be addressed? A colleague of mine once worked for a manager whose catch phrase was, “That’s not a battleground we want to die on.” The problem was that there were NO battlegrounds he ever wanted to die on. Or, even suffer a minor wound. As a result, the guests his team was responsible for servicing didn’t get the best of what the resort could offer. People on his team didn’t get the feedback they needed to be their best. His team felt unsupported. Team members weren’t held accountable for results. Ultimately, they under-performed. On the other hand, not every issue needs to be confronted. Early in my career, I worked for one of the worst bosses ever. We could do a full book chapter, maybe even a full book, on his efforts at wreaking havoc within his organization. He would absolutely fit the definition of “asshole” as Stanford University professor Bob Sutton described in his classic book, “The No Asshole Rule.” The bad bosses’ catch phrase was, “You just need to go kick more ass” which he did on a regular and frequent basis. No issue was too small for him to confront. While he rarely turned his ire – bordering on insanity – toward me, he regularly wore out my peers about trivial details. As a result, everyone avoided him as much as possible, and did what they could to just get by. No one was even close to fully engaged in the effort to drive the division forward. So, when do you choose to confront? It’s hard to give an explicit list, but here are a few questions to provide a starting point: Is someone behaving outside your organizations values? Is performance below an acceptable level, or below what someone is capable of? Is someone’s behavior disrupting the ability of the team to perform their best? How would you feel if a story about the situation appeared on the evening news, or the front page of the newspaper, and you were portrayed as not taking action to intercede? 2. What issue do we need to confront? Better leaders focus their attention on the issue that creates the most leverage or is the most critical to address. And they recognize that the issue that needs to be addressed may change over time, even within a single conversation. Here’s the classic example: you’ve got somebody on your team who has shown up late for work a few times recently. As a result, he’s under-preforming and other team mates have expressed their concerns about it. You address it with him. He owns his behavior and promises it won’t happen again. All good. Then, two or three weeks later he shows up late again. What issue do you address? If you thought, “Talk to him again about being late,” raise your hands. Yeah, I thought that’s what you might say! You have a new problem to confront: now it’s not about his tardiness, it’s the much deeper and more complex issue involving his commitment to you to “not be late again.” The critical issue has shifted to his failure to honor his commitment to you – an integrity-related issue, not whether or not he makes it to work on time. 3. How do we create a safe environment in which to confront the issue? As noted above, creating a safe environment for Courageous Communications actually starts well before the conversation itself. It’s difficult to have a truly effective, tough conversation with someone if you haven’t built an environment of trust and respect or if you no relationship with the other person. Presuming you’ve built the proper foundation, then, generally establishing a safe environment means finding a place to have the most productive conversation possible. The old adage, “Praise in public, criticize in private” generally holds true. A few questions to spur your thinking and reflection: To what extent are you holding all the courageous conversations you need to be holding with others? Have you been avoiding any? If so, why? What would it take to hold the conversation? How well have you created an environment in which difficult communications can take place? If you think you’ve been holding courageous communications with others, but not getting the results you intended, why do you think that gap exists? I’d love your thoughts and feedback. In our next post, we’ll discuss how to make those conversations go well. Intrigued by what you’re reading? Download our white paper on converting strategy into execution and learn more about us by visiting our website . WhiteWater International Consulting, Inc. helps organizations understand the challenges they face and helps enterprises achieve and sustain outstanding performance through unleashing the passion and capabilities of its people. Because an organization is only as good at the people who power it.

Questions to Jumpstart Your 2018 Happy New Year! I hope you finished 2017 on a high note and are and getting ready for a great 2018. In that spirit, we’ve pulled together a set of “reflection” questions that we often pose to the leaders we work with. They may help guide your thinking as you trudge through the cold and snow and head back to work this week. If you have thoughts on any of these and how they apply to your organization, please share them in the comments section below. 1. What are the Top 3 Goals for your organization for 2018? How well does everyone on your team know them? (Here’s a quick test from our Strategy-to-Execution white paper: Play 3-on-3: Have each member of your team write what they think the top 3 goals are for  your team and/or organization. Compare your list to their list…how did you do?) How will you measure success in achieving those goals? What are the key activities you need to undertake to achieve those goals? What needs to change about how you spend your time to accomplish those goals? 2. What are the primary barriers you’ll face in achieving those goals? How will you deal with them/overcome them? 3. What are the key capabilities you need to build in your team to accomplish those goals? You might look at Leader as Organizational Architect, Part 1 for some ideas. 4. What capabilities do you personally need or want to build in 2018? 5. What “thinking” (mental models, assumptions, perceptions, beliefs) do you need to change or challenge to achieve your best? You might find Leaders Challenge Their Own Mental Models a useful starting point. What do you think? What questions are you considering as you start 2018? What would add to the list? I hope these questions help you prepare for a great 2018 and beyond. Intrigued by what you’re reading? Download our white paper on converting strategy into execution and learn more about us by visiting our website . WhiteWater International Consulting, Inc. helps organizations understand the challenges they face and helps enterprises achieve and sustain outstanding performance through unleashing the passion and capabilities of its people. Because an organization is only as good at the people who power it.

Courageous Communications, Part 4: Holding Tough Conversations This post continues our series on courageous conversations. In Part 3, we discussed how to prepare for one. Now, let’s talk about the talk itself. A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away (Yeah, gratuitous Star Wars reference), I worked with two leaders at roughly the same time. They worked for different organizations, but I was struck with how similar they were. Both had a great sense of the strengths, weaknesses and potential of their respective organizations. Both had a great feel for their groups’ strategy and relative position in the marketplace. Both understood financial issues. Both had earned a great deal of respect from their peers, managers, direct reports for their intellect, knowledge and understanding of the business. They differed in several ways, but one critical aspect really distinguished them: their willingness and ability to carry out courageous conversations. “Samantha” would initiate the courageous conversation whenever when she saw something that needed to be addressed. She had no problem confronting anyone when it was necessary – boss, peer or direct report. In every conversation, she made sure they understood her point of view. And, (again, when appropriate) she actively sought out their point of view on the conflict rather than dictating her point of view. More on this idea later. “Dave” took the opposite approach. He was just as perceptive as Samantha, so he knew when he needed to address a problem face-to-face. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Worse, in his frustration, he would occasionally discuss the lingering problem – but with another colleague, not the person who needed the feedback. He simply lacked the courage to confront others directly. I probably don’t have to tell you that Samantha’s career has continued to progress. Dave’s career plateaued. This is not an isolated case. We have seen dozens of otherwise talented leaders hit the proverbial career wall because they lack confidence and/or capabilities to gracefully manage the courageous conversations. How can you be more like Samantha? Frameworks not Scripts First, we don’t believe in scripts. Memorizing a few key phrases – whether you’re greeting guests in a restaurant or holding a tough conversation with a peer — isn’t genuine or effective. Courageous conversations are interactive. They require deep listening to what your conversation partner is saying and feeling and really “hearing” the message behind their words. If you’re working from a “script” and the other person is not – and they won’t be – the conversation will be off-script from the start. You’ll either not hear or process what your partner is saying, or you’ll be following your script, but ignoring him or her. That’s a monologue, not a conversation. We prefer frameworks…outlines of the key principles that apply. Having a solid framework allows you to fully engage in the rich dialogue that tough conversations require. So, let’s talk about a framework for holding effective courageous communications. Master the First 30 Seconds You must get to the point quickly. You’re having the conversation because you want one or two specific things to change, and you know how you think they need to change. So say that. Define the problem. Think of the problem as a gap between what is actually happening and what needs to happen. Describe that gap, and clearly explain what you believe your coworker needs to change. Then, usually, listen to your conversation partner’s point-of-view. If you stammer, fumble, muddle your words, or are not clear in any way, you leave much room for confusion and misinterpretation. Which can make the situation worse, not better. To master those first 30 seconds, you may need to practice what you’re going to say. And, sometimes, it makes sense to practice with a practice partner who can give you the feedback you need to make sure your message is completely clear. What if you have more than one or two specific things that need to change? If that’s the case: That’s a pretty good sign that you’ve waited too long to hold this conversation and You probably need to have more than one conversation. If you bring up a laundry list of issues, your coworker is likely to feel like you’re piling on and will respond defensively. Pick one or two issues – perhaps the most critical problem, or maybe start with a problem that’s relatively simple to solve so you both can get a “win” under your belts before addressing the next issue – and table the rest. Don’t sugarcoat or turn the conversation into a compliment sandwich A lot of us have been taught the script of “say something positive, give people the critical feedback and then close the conversation with something else positive.” That script is a recipe for communication disasters. Because of the way we filter the information we’re exposed to, most people hear the positive items at the front and back end of the script, and get confused by, or totally miss, the important stuff in the middle of the compliment sandwich. You’re having the conversation because you need to address something important. Starting with language that pretends this isn’t serious, or isn’t on point, just confuses the person who needs to receive your feedback. Besides, the other person very likely knows you’re there to discuss an important problem. If you start the conversation with a compliment, she’s just waiting for the shoe to drop. Engage in Dialogue…most of the time. Adapt accordingly. If this is the first time you’re addressing the issue, you want to check your own thinking and engage in joint problem solving. Why is there a gap? Does the other person perceive the situation the same way you do? If not, why not? And how will you mutually resolve the situation? If this is the third time you’re discussing the same issue, you probably don’t want to spend much time listening to what your coworker has to say. At this point, it’s probably time to tell them what has to be done and explain the consequences to the organization and to the person if it doesn’t happen. Manage the Conversation within the Conversation Tough conversations often involve a significant level of emotion for both you and the other person (or people) involved. Pretty clearly, you need to keep your emotions in control. And, as importantly, be prepared for a wide range of emotions from the other(s) involved. Managing the conversation within the conversation means: Deciding if you need to confront any issues or emotional reactions that come up Deciding what you’re going to confront Mastering the opening of that conversation (“Your reaction (anger, yelling, clamming up, etc.) is getting in the way of us having a productive conversation.”) Resolving that issue (if possible within the conversation) And, then, getting back on track with the initial conversation. (Or, making the decision to break off the conversation to let the emotions subside and then getting back together at some clearly defined point in the very near future.) Close clearly Make sure there’s no confusion about the issue, why it’s important, what both you and your coworker are committing to change, and what your time frame is to make the change. When will you talk again? What do you think? How well have you handled the tough conversations you’ve had to have with others? Which of the items in this framework do you handle well? Where could you use some improvement? Is there anything that you would add to this outline? Let us know what you think in the comment section below. Intrigued by what you’re reading? Download our white paper on converting strategy into execution and learn more about us by visiting our website . WhiteWater International Consulting, Inc. helps organizations understand the challenges they face and helps enterprises achieve and sustain outstanding performance through unleashing the passion and capabilities of its people. Because an organization is only as good at the people who power it.

One of the fundamental challenges facing many, if not most, organizations today is that leaders don’t lead.  They may guide.  They may supervise.  They may organize.  They may keep people within specific boundaries or to work within prescribed rules, policies and procedures. But, they don’t lead ! And, this challenge is compounded by the host of “Leadership Training” programs inside organizations and available on the open market that don’t actually teach anyone to lead .  They may teach people to set goals, or manage performance or communicate more effectively.  Together, they might provide some of the core skill sets that are necessary for people to lead most effectively, yet they don’t actually teach people to lead. So, what’s it take to Just Lead?  (Hint:  It’s not about the job title!) Over the last 25 years, we’ve found 5 key elements that distinguish true leadership from supervision or management (as effective as those might be): Leaders, as John Wayne said, “Get the herd moving roughly West.” Leaders engage people in accomplishing outcomes that none of those folks could accomplish on their own.  The leaders job in this is to define what “roughly West” looks like and make getting there compelling enough that people want to contribute their best to the journey every day. Leaders Define the Gap To get the herd moving roughly West, leaders define the gap between where the organization/group is and where it needs to be to be successful. Leaders must take off the rose-colored glasses and see the world, not how they think it should be, but how it really is.  And, there is ALWAYS a gap between where the organization is, and where it needs to be to succeed and sustain success.  And, they must be able to effectively communicate this gap to the rest of the organization. Leaders must engage the organization in defining a picture of the future state that is different than where the organization is today.  Whether the timeframe is a week, a month, a year or 5 years from now, everyone needs to share a vision of what the future state looks like, and why it’s necessary to get there.  And, of course, they have to be nimble enough to quickly change direction as the economy, or customers, or competition, or technology change where they need to get to. Intrigued by what you’re reading? Download our white paper on converting strategy into execution and learn more about us by visiting our website . WhiteWater International Consulting, Inc. helps organizations understand the challenges they face and helps enterprises achieve and sustain outstanding performance through unleashing the passion and capabilities of its people. Because an organization is only as good at the people who power it.

Understanding: Change Leadership Our goal is to help our clients achieve long-term, sustainable growth and profitability through continuous improvement and large-scale organizational change. To that end, we provide a broad range of management consulting and training and development services designed to help our clients cope with and take advantage of the turbulence they face in the global marketplace Change is the only constant in today’s operating environment. Being able to adapt and take advantage of rapidly changing circumstances – i.e., thrive in the midst of constant turbulence – is an absolute requirement for long-term success and sustainability. A failure to act quickly leads to acceptance/tolerance of the status quo. A failure to act smartly weakens credibility and leads to frustration and a desire to “return to the old days.” We help our clients answer and then execute against these (and many more questions): WHO will be an effective champion of the effort? WHAT must change about the organization’s are systems, structures, processes, people practices, peoples’ skills and capabilities to achieve the results? HOW will we build a coalition to support the change effort? HOW do we create a series of quick wins that demonstrate progress and help engage others in the effort? HOW will we assess progress? HOW do we sustain and grow energy for change? HOW do we deal with the inevitable roadblocks to sustaining the effort? Our Role in Your Change Strategy WWCG’s role is to act as “lead guide” for devising and implementing the overall change strategy. Our goal is to help our clients identify the priorities, assess alternative action plans and provide expertise and guidance when needed. Ultimately, however, we want to enable our clients to lead the change strategy themselves and not be permanently dependent upon us! Intrigued by what you’re reading? Download our white paper on converting strategy into execution and learn more about us by visiting our website . WhiteWater International Consulting, Inc. helps organizations understand the challenges they face and helps enterprises achieve and sustain outstanding performance through unleashing the passion and capabilities of its people. Because an organization is only as good at the people who power it. Change Leadership

Understanding: Performance-Driven, Values Based Leadership WWCG works with our clients to design and deliver core and custom leadership development programs that help leaders – from frontline supervisors to C-level officers — engage the organization and lead more effectively. Leader Development Effective leadership is THE key above all others to navigating the whitewater. In today’s rapidly changing environment, leaders at all levels must be able to: Define the gap between current reality and what is necessary for success Engage everyone in the organization to move forward Find, recruit and select the talented people necessary to generate success Create an environment which inspires and unleashes everyone’s capabilities Connect strategic and operating goals to the goals and performance metrics of individuals and work teams Provide straight talk – deal with difficult confrontations and situations Make the tough decisions regarding the organization’s values and who is contributing and who is not Constantly Learn, Teach and be Stewards for the organization. At  WWCG , we’ve been helping leaders improve their effectiveness for over 20 years.  We’ve helped leaders at all levels of the organization from frontline leaders in their first formal leadership role to CEO’s.  We’ve helped develop leaders in organizations of all shape and sizes from start-ups to Fortune 100. Intrigued by what you’re reading? Download our white paper on converting strategy into execution and learn more about us by visiting our website . WhiteWater International Consulting, Inc. helps organizations understand the challenges they face and helps enterprises achieve and sustain outstanding performance through unleashing the passion and capabilities of its people. Because an organization is only as good at the people who power it. Performance-driven leadership

Beyond Technique: Thinking Action Outcomes Many leadership development programs focus solely on teaching specific skills and techniques, like “listening” or “providing feedback.” While those techniques can be helpful, the key to truly developing leaders’ capabilities is to help them examine the underlying mental models, assumptions, beliefs and perceptions that drive their behavior in the first place. Utilizing our Thinking-Action-Outcomes model, our leadership development efforts are designed to both: Help leaders understand the mental models that drive their behavior and expose them to alternatives that may enhance their effectiveness Provide them with specific skill development when required. Our leadership development solutions include our core leadership program, Just Lead!TM, custom program development, our 360-degree feedback process and options for blended solutions. For more information on how WWCG can help with your leadership development needs to discuss your current leadership development efforts, contact us. Intrigued by what you’re reading? Download our white paper on converting strategy into execution and learn more about us by visiting our website . WhiteWater International Consulting, Inc. helps organizations understand the challenges they face and helps enterprises achieve and sustain outstanding performance through unleashing the passion and capabilities of its people. Because an organization is only as good at the people who power it.

360 Degree Feedback: A Process That Works Different organizations will have a different approach to making 360-degree feedback work inside their organizations. However, there are a few critical steps that significantly contribute to overall success: Step 1: Understand what’s important about your leaders’ performance as leaders. Step 2: Build the survey. The questions you ask must reflect what’s critical about the leaders’ performance as leaders. Step 3: Figure out who you want to collect feedback for. In some cases, it maybe appropriate to start at the top and cascade the survey process down through the organization over a series of iterations. In other organizations, it may be better to involve all leaders right from the beginning. (We don’t think it’s ever a good idea to start at lower levels of the organization and work it up or to ignore the higher levels of the organization completely.) Step 4: Figure out who you want to collect feedback from. Direct reports must obviously be included. In many cases, you’ll want to collect feedback from the participants’ peers and manager. (Though you want to keep the responses separate.) Some organizations have also found it valuable to include feedback form those outside the company – customers, suppliers or key business partners. Step 5: Decide who gets to see the data and in what sequence. The person receiving the feedback obviously needs to be the first person to see his/her data.We strongly believe the people providing the feedback should see the data.Ultimately, we think the leader should also share the feedback with his/her manager. (However, some organizations find it effective to not share the data with the leader’s manager during the first time through the process.)- 2 -lead. learn. change. thrive. Step 6: Actively manage the process after the feedback is collected. The best practices we’ve observed include: The leader reviews his/her feedback and identifies strengths and weaknesses. The leader shares his/her feedback with the people who provided the data(the direct reports are the most important group). During this meeting, the leader can collect more feedback (“Are there any other issues I should be sensitive to?”), work with the group to agree on priorities and map out a plan for improvement. The leader meets with his/her manager to review the data, review the outcomes of the meeting with the survey respondents, make appropriate changes to the plan and agree on any developmental help the leader needs. Step 7: Conduct mid-course correction meetings. About halfway through the 360-degree feedback cycle is a great time for the leader to follow-up with the group.The primary outcomes from the process should be: Getting feedback about whether the leader has lived up to the initial action plans. Identifying any new developmental opportunities.\ Understanding if anything has changed about the priorities. Step 8: Repeat the whole process. To create the best opportunity for success,the survey needs to stay as consistent as possible over several iterations. However, some of the leadership issues facing the organization will undoubtedly change over time. So, the survey process must allow for some level of flexibility while maintaining consistency Intrigued by what you’re reading? Download our white paper on converting strategy into execution and learn more about us by visiting our website . WhiteWater International Consulting, Inc. helps organizations understand the challenges they face and helps enterprises achieve and sustain outstanding performance through unleashing the passion and capabilities of its people. Because an organization is only as good at the people who power it.