Keith Ayers - Trust Inside

The Importance of Flexibility in Leadership

Flexible people tend to have a greater ability to gain endorsement for their initiatives, projects and proposals. Hear Keith Ayers discuss the impact of both high and low flexibility in the workplace.

 

A Proactive Workplace

Almost every leader or manager wants proactive employees. But it doesn't just happen. You have to create an environment in which proactive employees thrive. Keith Ayers shares his insights into how leaders can help create change in their organization.

 

 

Respect: The Foundation of Trust-Based Relationships

All people want to be respected for who they are. Not judged, criticized or made to feel inferior. When people know they are respected, they are more committed to giving their best to the organization.

 

Leadership is Not Rocket Science

I'm not saying that being a leader is easy, but I do think it is a lot less complicated than some people think it is.

Successful leaders inspire commitment from a group of people to achieving a meaningful outcome or Vision.

In my recent blog I focused on "the work of a leader” – what the leader needs to do to achieve their Vision. But before you can do the work of a leader, you need a team of people who want to help you achieve the vision and are capable of executing it.

There are four leadership skills that determine a leader’s success in alignment and execution – which really is the measure of a leader. Anyone can have a vision of how things could be. The truly successful leader inspires the alignment and execution that delivers the fulfilment of the vision. Those leadership skills are:

1. Build trust – team members do not align with leaders they do not trust. Too many leaders fail to achieve this first step because they assume people will trust them and then fail to work at developing and maintaining trust relationships. See my blog on the Elements of Trust™.
2. Capitalize on talent – every member of the team has talent, but many don’t see it in themselves. Successful leaders ignite passion and creativity by helping people believe in themselves and encourage risk taking to develop those talents.
3. Make work meaningful for everyone – everyone’s role is meaningful – it has a “purpose”, otherwise it would cease to exist. Successful leaders are “purpose-driven”, and get all team members aligned with the purpose of their roles to deliver exceptional value.
4. Build a high performing team – turning a group of workers into a high performing team is a skill all leaders should possess. Getting all team members aligned and working together interdependently to utilize their talents makes all the difference in the execution stage.

What would your organization achieve if every leader used these four skills to focus their teams on executing your vision?

The Work of a Leader

Millions of words have been written about the qualities and characteristics of a leader, and there has been much debate about what makes the best leader.

But in the end, leaders are judged by what they have achieved, and rightly so. But what do successful leaders do?

Put simply, they lead people somewhere they haven’t been before. That is, leaders create change. In the process of doing that, leaders do three things:

1. Vision – the starting point is a vision of the change they wish to create. We’ve all heard that leaders are visionary, and unfortunately I think that many people see that as a talent that very few are blessed with. Being visionary simply means being able to see (in my mind’s eye) the end result I want to achieve.
2. Alignment – just as important as being able to “see” the end result is the ability to articulate the vision in a way that gets the team into “alignment” – to be fully committed to achieving the vision.
3. Execution – getting team members engaged in executing the vision is the essential final step to creating change.

The ability to do these things should not just be reserved for the executive suite. Every team leader should have a vision of what their team is capable of achieving, get the team in alignment with that vision and then execute to achieve it.It’s the work of a leader!

Would you like to assess how you go about doing the work of a leader? I am working with Inscape Publishing Inc in the beta test phase of a new Leadership Profile designed to help leaders be more effective in doing the “work of a leader”.

If you would like to take the profile please send an email to nicola@integro.com.au with Leadership Profile in the subject line. I will need you to respond to the profile by July 30.

What is your experience of working with leaders who were effective at performing the work of a leader? I would like to hear your stories.

Is Your Leadership Approach Working?

Some managers attempt to control people in order to get them to do the right thing at work. Yet control-based leadership kills passion, creativity and initiative. Here is a recent video where I discuss the need for a change in the way we lead people.

The High Cost of Lost Trust

Toyota Motor Corporation have been getting a lot more media attention than they would like over the past few months as a result of their delayed reaction to recalling millions of cars around the world.

According to the Wall Street Journal, January 29, 2010, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) statistics show that “Sudden-acceleration events in Toyota and Lexus vehicles have led to at least five deaths, 13 crashes and 17 injuries since 2006”.

What took them so long?

Toyota is in the news again today announcing that profits are up by 48 percent and that the aftermath of the recall has not been as severe as expected.

Friends of mine in Pennsylvania were out shopping for two new vehicles in February this year, and were on the verge of signing for two Toyotas. But nagging doubts about the safety issues brought on by the publicity of the recalls swayed them, and they are now driving around in two new Hyundai cars.

It is good news that Toyota is making a strong recovery… I have nothing against them and in fact my wife Kelley drives a small Lexus. But will they ever know how much the delay in recalling those vehicles has cost them in diminished customer loyalty and sales?

 

Why Trust Is Essential In Business Today

The level of trust employees have in their organizations and their senior leaders is at an all-time low. After the events leading up to the global financial crisis and the way many organizations have responded, it’s as if the entire foundation of employee beliefs has gone through a tornado. What we are left with is the shattered emotions of today’s workers.

Somehow, the trust and integrity that once were the foundation of our relationships with our employees need to be rebuilt.

How Flexible Are You?

Most change management initiatives that fail do so for one reason: individuals are either unwilling or unable to change their own attitudes and behavior.

The mistake most leaders make is thinking that change is an organizational issue, and that they can restructure, implement new systems, processes, and technology, and voila, the change will take place!

But the change does not take place in so many cases because of a lack of flexibility in people. Not just the people who have to implement the change; the leaders who design the change and their implementation strategy.

I have been working with business leaders on increasing their “personal flexibility” for over 30 years and I have identified a few key characteristics of a flexible leader. How would you rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 5 for each of the following samples of the characteristics?

1. Willing to listen to ideas you don’t initially agree with.
2. Adaptable – willing to change your mind in the face of new evidence.
3. You believe that other’s needs are at least as important as your own.
4. Willing to compromise.
5. Willing to take risks, especially with ideas that are not your own.

How flexible are you? Before you answer that question, consider that you are only as flexible as other people see you as being. How would others answer these questions about you?

Trust and authenticity in professional selling

Here is a link to some video footage taken of a discussion I was involved in on “Trust and authenticity in professional selling”. We are preparing for a professional selling tele-seminar running in August 2009, where I am one of 10 experts gathering to share success strategies on surviving the recession. Take a look at this short video via the link below.

https://saleseffect.infusionsoft.com/go/salesvideo1/paul/

Trust is a Powerful Value Promise

I was recently made aware of a good example of an organization that focuses on building trust with its customers, Amica Mutual Insurance Company. It is an appealing value promise for an insurance company to make, especially after the negative publicity many companies got for rejecting claims in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina.

But we as business leaders need to be careful to ensure that we deliver on that promise. The recent TV ads for Amica are very well done, and it seems from the awards they receive that they do deliver a high level of customer satisfaction.

Do you have other examples of companies you deal with or work for that really deliver on their value promise? Share them with us by commenting on this blog.

Trust is a Feeling

Sometimes there is no logic in the feeling you get about a person. Sometimes you meet a person for the first time and you get a sense that you can’t trust them. When you get that feeling about someone, you hold back on giving trust, or you simply avoid the person altogether.

Is your organization actively focusing on emotionally connecting with customers in a positive way?
Steve Jobs said “let’s make a great phone that we fall in love with – then everyone will want to use it.” Apple then created the iPhone. Not only did they create a phone (and computers, iPods etc.) that millions of people have fallen in love with, they also backed these products up with a chain of stores staffed by passionate tech heads who love solving problems and helping customers enjoy their products.

Whether a customer becomes loyal and passionate or stays open to leaving you for a competitor is all to do with how they feel about your organization and its products and services – the level of trust they feel for you. And that trust is affected by every interaction they have with your organization.
In the current economic climate it is even more important for every employee to be aware of the impact they have on how customers feel about your organization, and to be committed to delivering value your competitors cannot match.

I’d like to hear from you about the organizations you do business with that have earned your trust. What do they do that their competitors don’t?

Trusting Your Customers

I joined a gym yesterday – the first time in over 10 years. Yes, I have been a bit slack about exercise so I made a commitment that it was time to get fit. But I have avoided joining a gym for many years because of the very restrictive contracts they have required me to sign, locking me in to a long-term commitment. With my travel schedule it just hasn’t been worth it.

Yesterday, I discovered a gym that requires only a one-month commitment, after which I can cancel my membership with 3 days notice, and I can freeze my membership for weeks or months – for a very nominal fee – if I am going away.

It occurred to me that this club trusts its employees to provide such great value that its members will keep coming back. It also trusts members (customers) to know what is best for them. The last gym I belonged to did not trust me to keep coming back so they felt the need to lock me into a long-term contract.

I think I’d rather go to a gym because I want to rather than because I feel I have to. What is your experience with gym memberships? I’d like to hear about your experience and whether you think the trust relationship has an impact on the level of customer service.

Focusing on Purpose in an Uncertain Environment

During these tough economic times, it is important to avoid descending into panic mode. Rather we must re-focus on the fundamentals that make us, and our organizations, strong: our purpose and our people.

As fear and trepidation hold sway at the boardroom table, we can rest assured that similar emotions will be felt in the staff lunch room.
 During the toughest times, it is more important than ever to maintain an open and constructive line of communication with your employees. We are in a period of great flux—the kind of change that can make or break the passion, cohesion, and alignment of a team of employees.

No doubt many of us have asked over the last number of months, what can we do in our organization? We have little or no influence over what takes place in the corridors of political power but we can take steps to steady the ship in our own headquarters. Here are four straightforward measures you can take today to keep heads cool and assure your people that you will combat economic trouble together:

1. Gather your employees together and convene an open discussion on the impact of a tighter economy on the business, team morale, and peoples’ livelihoods.
2. Ask for ideas and suggestions on how the business can best meet the challenge together.
3. Discuss how you will maintain client and customer loyalty through, and beyond, a turbulent period.
4. If layoffs become a possibility, be straight with people about it. Formulate a strategy together, with everyone’s input for dealing with layoffs in the most fair and humane way possible.

The most crucial factor for you to consider is that your employees are likely to be even more fretful about the economic situation than you are. The worst thing you can do is to be too pessimistic yourself and keep them in the dark about its impact on the business.

In a time of struggle and hardship, we need to summon our strength and leadership. Give it to people straight, face the problem together, and they will fight with you every step of the way.

Trust in Senior Leaders

In their 2008 report on the State of Employee Engagement, consulting group Blessing White state that only about half (53 percent) of respondents trust executives at the top compared to 75 percent who trust their immediate manager or supervisor.

It is more difficult to demonstrate trustworthiness without a one-on-one relationship. The same is also a challenge with people you don’t see very often, if at all. But I think there is more to it than that.

Senior executives’ expectations of what being trustworthy means for them is quite different to what employees expect from them. It is quite easy to understand when we look at the four Elements of Trust described in a previous post: Congruence, Openness, Acceptance, and Reliability.

Senior executives see themselves as trustworthy by being Congruent (honest and ethical), and Reliable (producing results). And in reality, these are the elements that the board and shareholders are primarily focused on as well.

But employees see things differently. Yes of course they expect their senior leaders to be honest and ethical and run a profitable business, but for them personally, acceptance and openness are more important. They want to know that their senior executives value and respect them and the contribution they make, and they want a higher degree of openness between senior executives and themselves.
This involves not just communicating more openly with employees, but also listening to them. How would employees in your organization answer the questions:

•    Does our senior executive team know what is on employees’ minds?
•    Does our senior executive team care about what is on employees’ minds?

If half of the employees in your organization don’t trust your senior team, that is likely to be the same half who are not engaged or passionate about what they do.

Building trust requires all four elements of trust. It is worth the effort for senior executives to get out of their offices and meet with employees. They have things on their mind that could grow your business.

What are you doing in your organization to increase trust with employees? I’d like to hear about it – just post me a comment in the “comments” section below this post.