Can you summon up all your skills, abilities and talent at WILL?

Personal profile

Winning

To win in any sport, especially in the domain that I have a liking for, ‘fighting’, you have to be invincible, and be able to defend that which cannot be attacked, and attack that which cannot be defended; to do this you must be strong. This holds true in the corporate arena; To win:

1. You must be strong
2. To be strong you need the strength of others
3. To have the strength of others, you must win people
4. To win people, you must win peoples hearts
5. To win peoples hearts, you must have self mastery
6. To have self mastery, you must be flexible in mind
Extract from the Art of War

I thought I’d share this because it has a parallel with Leadership. If leadership is all about people understanding and motivating people, then the search for True Leadership lies within Self Leadership & Self Mastery

Leadership Thoughts

5 Reasons why workers don’t perform effectively:

1. They hate their work
2. They derive no satisfaction or fulfillment from their work
3. They don’t have the domain skill and knowledge to feel confident and competent
4. Ineffective Leadership
5. They have Personality clash with the Leader

5 Ways to measure which team (who) will win:

How well:

1. do people share the same view
2. do the people understand the impact of season on their performance
3. do people understand the terrain
4. do people believe in the leadership
5. is discipline applied

Leadership Trouble Spot

As I travel, talking, training and consulting with clients, I always ask, ‘how do you create the time and space to step out of your head and stop thinking?’
I often get the usual reply, “I don’t have the time to stop”. But, get this; Top people take the time to stop.

So; ‘how do you create the time and space to step out of your head and stop thinking?’

Executive Summary

One of the reason I enjoy Kumite (fighting) is because you have to summon up all your skills ability and talent at will. Observe deeply and you will appreciate the fact, that all business activity, be it selling, negotiation, or market positioning, is all fighting with specific ground rules, with one objective; to win; and to win you must have effective leadership, and effective leadership starts from self leadership. A point to note, a lack of leadership on the fighting mat, results in a Knock Out!

This is Francis Nwofor, saying be inspired, stay motivated, & feel empowered.

How do you gain the Trust of your people?

Personal profile

I was reading a story “The Doomsday Machine” in Steven Pinker’s book Hothead I present an extract on his conclusion on Emotions
‘Long-distance phone service, electronic mail, faxes, and video conferencing should have made the face-to-face business meeting obsolete. But meetings continue to be a major expense for corporation and supports entire industries, like hotels, airlines, and rental cars. Why do we insist on doing business in the flesh? Because we do not trust someone until we see what makes him (her – my own addition) sweat.’
I thought I’d share this because it has a parallel to Leadership.

The enigma called leadership is fast gaining accelerated exposure, to the point that the flavor of the month leadership models is starting to appear. Have I considered patenting a Francis A. Nwofor 7 Cycles for Effective Leadership Model? ‘No!’ Of cause I have, but then I thought, with respect to what Steven Pinker was expressing in his conclusion, a new leadership model is not what we need to lead effectively. What we need to learn is how to understand our fellow human being, because Great Leadership and with that Great Followship comes from People understanding People, it is ironic that this message as been repeated more than once in our history as a race, yet we have not taken heed.

Leadership Thoughts

1. Once a Leaders always a Servant
2. To get the job done right the first time around, send in your best men/women
3. Are you teaching your People to be Teachers of Teachers of Leaders?
4. Continuity occurs when people are made equal participants in a process
5. If you don’t want to lead, be careful who you follow – Wayne, January 2006
6. The person chasing you is your best advisor – Isaiah, March 2006

Leadership Trouble Spot

How do you gain the Trust of your people?

John Maxell tells us that Leadership is influencing nothing more nothing less, yet to influence someone, whether they are a child, brother, sister, partner, customer, co-worker, or subordinates you must have a strong relationship with them.

The first hurdle to developing a strong relationship is Trust and with that Trustworthiness, the ability to give trust as well as accept trust, to be trusted.

The Bow (Rei) to a Martial Artist symbolises many things, one of which is a bond of Trust, a trust that is cultivated between the Master and the Student or between each Student. The Master is trusting that the Student will not abuse the skills being passed on to them, likewise, when the Student places his or her life in the hands of the Master, the Student is trusting that the Master will not abuse this trust.

Echoing Mr. Pinker’s point on the fact that we don’t trust people until we see what makes them sweat, I haven’t as of yet come across a leadership model that present a one size fits all receipt on how to develop and cultivate trust amongst a group of people without first going through the pain of:
1. Continually Developing yourself
2. Being Open (transparent – and yes there are those that will try to take advantage of this fact)
3. Getting to know your people’s fears, dreams and aspiration

When I work with organisations or individuals within an organisation, I will often ask them:
1. What is your metaphor for trust?
2. How do you show trust in your daily transaction between, you and your customers, between you and your employees (especially that new member of staff)?
3. How do you go about regaining trust, when trust is broken?
4. What do you do when someone continually abuses your trust?


How have you gone about developing and cultivating trust with your people? Or how did you handle question 3 & 4 when you faced it?

Executive Summary

Steven Covey said ‘we manage things and lead people’, John Maxwell said ‘leadership is influence nothing more nothing less’; however to lead, to influence we need to have a strong positive relationship with the person or people that we are attempting to influence or lead, and trust as well as trustworthiness lies at the core of this relationship. No new management or leadership model or a 7 step guide to building trust will help you become trustworthy other than to live and embody trust and trustworthiness is your thoughts, deeds and spoken words.

This is Francis Nwofor, saying be inspired, stay motivated, & feel empowered.

How can an Organisation become a Learning Organisation?

Personal profile
I think that it is great when people give you feedback on your work, however when they Buy-in to your principles, to the point that they trust you and are willing to provide you with feedforward, it’s really grand. One of my readers, having read my last newsletter recommended that I might want to write something that echoed the notion of individual and collective review and reflection on achievement, actions, decisions taken as well as the next steps; and how organisations can avoid using a tool designed for self development for self destruction. As I thought more on these points, I concluded that the main issues are;

1) How can an Organisation become a Learning Organisation?

2) What can the Leader of an Organisation do to create the ethos of a Learning Organisation?

On an individual level two further questions needs to be addressed;

1) What is the main reason that an employee may chooses to learn?

2) Why would they choose to apply new learning?

Leadership Thoughts
How to measure and evaluate people – Extracts from the Art of War
1. If they are of high position, observe what they promote
2. If they are of low status, observe what they refuse to do
3. See them overcome difficulty, and you will know their courage
4. Move them with joy and happiness, and you can observe their self-control
5. Shake them with fear, and you will know their discipline

Leadership Trouble Spot

How do you become a learning organisation?

For an organisation to become a learning entity it must create an atmosphere that provides the space, time & testing ground needed for, reflection on achievement, actions, decisions taken, the next steps, explore new dimensions, as well as test out new theories, without the fear of punishment, ridicule, blame or criticism.

Drawing on my experience from academia, there are 4 rudiments that leaders of organisations need to consider about learning and its impact on creating a learning organisation. These fundamentals have been echoed for many years by the learning theorist of our time, the likes of David Ausubel, Jerome Bruner & Lev Semenovich Vyqotsky.

The Rudiments to learning are:
Type of learning
Testing of learning
Motivation for learning
Transferability of learning

We haven’t the time or space to go into more detail on this, however suffice to say; in the area of Type of Learning, this can be subdivided into, formal, social, practical, explorative etc. The point to note is that at work, or in a working environment we learn by a combination of social, practical, explorative & reflective learning modes, as well as wisdom (learning from someone else’s experience). Formal learning is the last approach, and it is only when no in-house knowledge is available. This then begs the question why are so many organisations bent on sending their people off on formal training courses.

Whether learning is formal, social or explorative, the key issues are to do with, Motivation for Learning, which come as a twofold concern, first is why would an employee want to further educate themselves and secondly why would they want to apply their new learning. This leads to a third question, associated with Transferability of Learning. Why would an employee want to teach others what he or she has learnt, knowing that they may be contributing to their job insecurity.

To create a truly learning organisation, these 4 areas need to be addressed and understood; otherwise the outcome will be an organisation that practices what Sue Goss calls Single Loop Learning, a situation in which the process changes organisational strategies, policies, and procedures whilst leaving attitude, behaviours and the Theory in Use unchanged.


How would you handle this situation? Or how did you handle this situation when you faced it?

Executive Summary
Formal learning is best at telling us what to do and how things are supposed to be. It just so happens that this is not how organisational behaviours is formed. Organisational behaviours are fostered through social learning, which teaches us how to do things, how things are done around here and the ongoing day-to-day unwritten operational procedures. It is these unwritten rules that Leaders need to redefine, reshape & recreate if their organisation is to shift paradigm to become a Learning Organisation

This is Francis Nwofor, saying be inspired, stay motivated, & feel empowered.