Leadership Limerick: Dealing with Deadlines

Every Monday, I offer a leadership limerick, highlighting an idea or strategy about effective leadership in limerick form. Searching for leadership limerick will identify previous posts.

A deadline is a specified date
But one that sometimes can wait

If your back is to the wall
And you must make a call

Is there a new option you can create?

Sometimes we decide to advance an imperfect solution because timeliness is indeed critical. "We could probably do better, but given all the circumstances here, this is good enough to get out since people need something now."

Other times we choose to revisit just exactly what has to be done right now and what can be postponed. "We've got to get the convention program to the printer, but we still have a few unconfirmed speakers.  Instead of holding up the entire job, let's list the session titles and descriptions and note that the speakers are TBA."

Deadlines help ensure things get done.  But meeting a deadline isn't the sole criterion for success.  So the next time your back is up against the wall, ask yourself:

• Does something have to be done right now?
• If so, what absolutely must be done right now?
• What ideally would be done now, but could be done later if we modify our approach?
• Then make the choice that honors the deadline, but also the other variables critical to your effort's success.

Constraints like deadlines keep projects advancing, but we still have choice in how we respond to them. So let's make sure our choices are ones informed by more than just the clock or calendar.  "On time" isn't necessarily the only critical metric for every single effort (unless of course you're FedEx or UPS, among others).

Getting More Players on the All-Star Team

On Tuesday, I was invited to join a few others folks as a workshop presenter on The Future of Learning for a session at the 2012 ASAE Great Ideas Conference.  I didn't know who else was going to be involved, but I was honored to be asked and excited about the possibility.

On Wednesday, I learned the names of the four other presenters and could immediately understand why a colleague kindly described us as an All-Star Team.  It was most flattering, and ego aside, I think it's a pretty accurate assessment.  Each of us brings many years working on learning, associations, knowledge development, and strategy.  Each of us is well-known as a consistent and reliable professional and presenter.

And each of us white.

And I'm struggling with that.  A lot.

I'm struggling because while we are definitely qualified to talk about the future of learning, future learners (and truthfully, a significant percentage of those in the present) are not going to look like our team: four white guys and one white female.

I'm struggling because while it is tough to ensure significant diversity is represented when you only have one or two keynote speakers, panel or multiple-presenter sessions should be the place where we can truly model the way.

I'm struggling because I feel once again "it's hard" became "we can't."

Realizing our commitment to diversity and inclusion has been hard for some time.  Labeling it as difficult has not made it any easier, nor has it led to significant enough changes.

As my favorite freak-flag flyer, Joe Gerstandt, would say: Where's the evidence?

When I worked on the college campus, the phrase affirmative action was still used more frequently.  One of my mentors instilled in us that it wasn't at all about a quota, it was about being intentionally affirmative, taking significant action to ensure under-represented voices would be included and heard.  This affirmative commitment went far beyond traditional demographic characteristics.

I'm a 40-something, reasonably successful, gay white guy from the Midwest. I'm smart enough to know that when I initially got a seat at the proverbial table, it's because someone else pulled up some more chairs and/or helped me get an invite.  While I work hard for my professional success, I am 100% aware that some of what has accrued to me is undoubtedly due to white privilege I cannot begin to fully understand. 

But I'll tell you what I do understand.  If I am indeed an All-Star, the only way I got on this team is because somehow I got to play and demonstrate my capabilities. For whatever reason, I got called up from the bench or invited into the game.   And I got to learn from being on a team of people, any one of whom probably could hit it out of the park better than me on many a day.

I want to be on the All-Star team for the future, not playing the game for Living Legends.

Things have to change.  Now.  Too much rhetoric for far too long.  It's time for results.

Otherwise the players we've left on the bench will go create their own game.  And guess what?  We'll then be the ones wondering why no one asks us to play.

I'll be damned if I'm going to sit on the bench on this issue.

8/25 Update Below (note: the first four comments to this post appeared before this update was added)

As one of the comments already posted suggests, this issue will not be without passions from multiple perspectives.  I applaud that and hope that what we can collectively become most passionate about are demonstrated results.  We're not going to get an A for effort when it comes to diversity and inclusion.  My purpose with this post was not to suggest that the individuals developing this particular session aren't committed to diversity. I merely was reacting to the final result: five of the most visible people in our field assembled together and who are all white and whose opinions on the topic at-hand are well-published already.

So let's back out of this example and treat the issue as a bit of a general case study because I don't know all the specifics behind the formulation of the players in this session and this situation is by no means isolated or unique.  Let's say you want to pull together a diverse mix of voices for a conference session, but are wracking your brain trying to figure out who to include.  What do you naturally do?  You first think of folks you would normally turn to for recommendations, your immediate network of "go to" people.  We all have them. Maybe you post a message on a listserv or discussion board, an open call of sorts. You might also call people in your extended network and ask for their recommendations.  You're still not getting many new names, but the program deadline is looming. So you decide to assemble a list of great presenters you know will do a good job.  100% understandable, and I've done exactly that thing in the past.  But it doesn't move the ball forward on diversity and inclusion.

Trying to achieve it in the moment for any particular situation will probably always produce limited results.  We (myself included) need to be constantly expanding our awareness of the talent in our midst in an active, intentional, and methodical way, and holding ourselves accountable for how many new folks ( and the contributions and talents they can contribute) we learn about.  We can't be inclusive of people we don't know, and we won't know new people if we don't change the rhythms of who we hang out with and where we hang out.  This approach is already somewhat in place in social media as we friend 2nd-level connections on Facebook or LinkedIn.  If each of us expands the network of people we know of and can turn to, the aggregate effect could grow the community of visible talent over time. But we also have to be honest with ourselves when our own networks have become less diverse (not just in terms of traditional demographics) than what we might want.  Over the years we may spend more time reconnecting with people we already know and deepening those relationships than reaching out and cultivating new connections.  After all, the hours available to us are limited.

So we need some metrics..  We have to make visible to ourselves the progress (or lack of it) so that we really begin to see things change.   When recently retired Proctor and Gamble CEO A.G. Lafley took the company's leadership helm, he instituted a requirement that a set percentage of future product innovations had to come from outside the company, a company notorious for its work from within culture.  Without a clear standard to judge actions, we're only left to reflect on our intentions.  Imagine a conference that commits to 25% of the speakers each year being new voices who have not previously presented.  You'd have to develop a different year-round strategy to meet that goal.  You know darn well that a conference like TED must have pretty sophisticated scouting systems in place to ensure a wow experience showcasing a significant number of fresh voices each year.

So we can start with ourselves.  I add 3-5 new people every month on Twitter outside my world of influence.  This limited number lets me really spend time reviewing what they tweet, learning about their interests, and connecting with them as I can. Others might cast a far wider net far more quickly.  When I attend a conference, I make a point to come back with 3 new colleagues.  When I am on a committee or council, I commit to spending the most time at our meeting with the people I've never heard of as opposed to the colleagues I already know and love.  And I still fall short of helping advance an issue I believe in deeply.  But I am trying to change my habits in meaningful, yet manageable ways.  Otherwise, my community of contacts ends up being a gated community in which I know everyone on the inside quite well, but vacancies in the neighborhood are infrequent.

For any community to achieve different results in diversity and inclusion will likely require that we change our habits, particularly if the current ones don't seem to be working.  We can't just try to do better at the current events level.  We have to engage in systemic change that ensures different results.

It's going to take a lot of work, personally and collectively.  And it's going to require us to be transparent and say, "What we're doing isn't working.  We need help.  We need new ideas." in more public forums in the hopes of bringing in fresh perspectives with different insights.  I'm trying to help move things along in the only ways I know how.  Those efforts will by no means be perfect just as my own individual commitments and efforts by no means have been (or will be) 100% successful.  I welcome the chance to learn from your example and your comments.

A Takeaway on What You're Giving Away

Some organizations give away their content,
hoping it will get you to join their community.

Some organizations give access to their community,
hoping you will then purchase their content.

Either could work, but doing both at the same time rarely will.

And it may very well be that neither your content nor your community as separate items is where your real value can be found.

Rather it may be in the conversation your community has about your content and the new content that is created as a result.  I wouldn't advise giving that away.

What do you think is most valuable and why?

Leadership Limerick: Staying Alert

Every Monday, I offer a leadership limerick, highlighting an idea or strategy about effective leadership in limerick form. Searching for leadership limerick will identify previous posts.

Conditions can change fast on the ground
So you have to keep looking around

Decide what matters most to your plan
So you know best what to scan

Then adapt when new info is found

No plan can remain 100% static from its inception, whether it be the career path you've charted for yourself, your organization's multi-year strategy, or the route you're going to drive for a Labor Day Weekend getaway.

Too often though we work so hard deciding what to do and how to do it that we forget the importance of being ready to make modifications as events unfold and conditions change.

Any plans we make are based on current conditions and a set of assumptions about the future.  It's wise to clearly document the ones that matter most, to monitor them as you execute the plan you've created, and to make the appropriate adjustments as you notice things changing around you.

Obvious?  Perhaps.  But for some, modification or deviation from the plan is not something they think of naturally.  Help build their capacity for doing so by focusing on the issue when your choices are being made on the front-end, not when adaptation is required in real-time.

From Private Thoughts to Public Actions

We can't make progress if we don't act.
We can't act on what we don't know.
We can't know unless we talk about it.
We can't talk about it unless it's made public.

So often progress is blocked because the necessary conversation among the right people isn't happening.  And that frequently happens because people assume others already know and are choosing not to do something about the concern in question, or because the people who can/need to change aren't being given the feedback that would lead them to do so.

It's fine to complain about a co-worker's annoying behavior to a friend, but your friend isn't the one who could actually stop the behavior that bothers you.  At some point you need to chat with the source.

If you find yourself (either as a speaker or listener) engaging in small group conversations that begin "What we really need to do around here is ..." or "I sure wish someone would ..." ask yourself what contribution you can make to advancing the desired ending or who needs to be invited into the conversation to help make things happen.

And if you find yourself having that conversation with yourself, inside your own head, know that the only way to make progress is if you make your private thoughts public and invite others to engage in the conversation and the necessary commitments.

Highlights of Recent Work

I'm careful to limit self-promotion with those of you kind enough to read my blog posts. But every so often pieces of my efforts appear in other places online, and I take a moment to share links in case they may be of interest.

Earlier this year I had the chance to be both the opening and closing keynote speaker for Goodwill Industries Spring Conference.  They've recently posted video highlights of those two talks (6 minutes each).

The first, Energizing the Enterprise, focuses on six core strategies any organization can use to energize its entire enterprise and help exemplify its mission while pursuing its vision.

1. Effort aligned around the core 
2. Effectiveness enhanced through intention 
3. Empower with streamlined strategy 
4. Engage diverse people and perspectives 
5. Efficiency through process 
6. Experiment to learn what works

The second offers some practical advice for how individuals attending a conference can go back and be a Learning Ambassador for their organization, someone who strategically shares their conference learning in a way that gains the interest, attention, and investment of their colleagues.  My remarks start at approximately 2 minutes and 50 seconds in this video.

Earlier this month, I attended the ASAE Annual Meeting and was a guest blogger on ASAE's Acronym blog.  My blog post focused on the heavy interest in the IGNITE sessions presented at the conference, the possible reasons for their huge appeal, and how those concepts can be applied to other learning experiences even if you aren't using the IGNITE format.

I also took on the challenge of doing another IGNITE talk, this one entitled Toward a More Sustainable You.  Video from that talk should be online in a few weeks and I'll share that link and the slides at that time.  Until then, you could amuse yourself (hopefully) form video of my last IGNITE talk at the 2011 Great Ideas Conference.  I donned priestly garb and delivered a sermon on why Failure Must Be an Option for innovation. For the 2012 conference, I'll be doing an IGNITE talk called Changing the Culture Begins with You.

I'm in the midst of a two-week reading and writing sabbatical which is bringing great clarity to how I am going to approach my work in 2012 and beyond.  I'll share more info about that direction early in the fall.  As for the rest of 2011, my capacity is just about maxed out, but I do still have room on my calendar in December (and some very limited November dates) for speaking, board or staff retreats, and the like.  Fees for 2012 work will increase November 1, so plan and schedule now to save more.

How IGNITE Ignited ASAE11

Leadership Limerick: Fostering Initiative

Every Monday, I offer a leadership limerick, highlighting an idea or strategy about effective leadership in limerick form. Searching for leadership limerick will identify previous posts.

Initiative is a tough thing to breed ...
Getting people to take more of the lead

You can give them more rope

But still they say “nope”

So it takes more than just planting the seed

Some people take a responsibility and run with it.  Others want to do a good job, but feel the need to get approval for each step along the way.

If you want people around you to take more initiative, you may need to be more explicit in how you'd like to see them act:

"Chris, I want you to know I have a lot of confidence in your abilities and trust your judgment.  When you're assigned a project, I'd like you to really take the lead on it.  You don't need to get my approval for each step along the way.  Instead you can just report routinely on how things are going and turn to me for my thoughts on only the most significant decisions."

And perhaps even more importantly, check your own behavior for how you respond to your colleagues' initiative.  It's pretty easy to send someone back into follower mode if we question each of their decisions or unnecessarily countermand some of the choices they make.

Thoughts on ASAE 2011

Earlier this week I returned from the annual meeting of the American Society of Association Executives held in St. Louis.  Here are a few thoughts about the experience from a 20,000 foot altitude.  Others including Jamie Notter, Shelly Alcorn, David Patt, and Stefanie Reeves are diving into more micro play-by-play.  Even if you are not an association professional, there may be some lessons learned that can be adopted or adapted for your own efforts.

Play to your strengths
It seems so obvious, but sometimes hosts (and host cities) overreach, trying to be something they are not and ending up creating a karaoke-like experience, mouthing the words of someone else's style and not sounding very good.  St.  Louis wisely did not play that game.  The Opening Party was under the Arch.  The Closing Block Party featured a smorgasbord of local food and talent.  And in-between the two were endless examples of Midwestern hospitality.

Too bad the opening keynote Tina Brown didn't do the same.  She's most definitely not a keynote speaker who is ready for primetime, and she would have done herself a favor by insisting on an alternative format that would have shown her in a better light … or actually doing some serious preparation. 

Variety is valued
ASAE increased the variety of educational session formats this year, and we were the better for it.  People want to engage with content in different ways and a conference program needs to be more elastic to allow them to do so: deep dives, IGNITE sessions, self-organizing flash sessions all helped support a better learner experience. 

The experience can be exhausting
While the experience was exhilarating, it also was exhausting.  The schedule begins early and ends late. Getting anywhere in the convention center requires long walks.  You wake up to a daily conference newspaper and throughout the day a never-ending Twitter stream calls for attention.  More than ever before, I felt the need to check out in order to stay tuned in.  Not sure how I feel about that. 

Sustainability is still a sideshow
We talk a good green game, but the reality is any conference involving 5000 people still produces a significant amount of waste by design.  Until that changes, refillable water bottles and solar-powered signs are going to be our best achievements.  That's not enough.

Logistics still matter
An otherwise fine facility, the America's Center features woefully inadequate lighting in many of its meeting rooms, leaving participants in a somnambulant state or reaching for their iPhone flashlight apps in order to see what's being served for lunch.  That aside,  I'm beginning to think we've made an unwritten pact that crescent round seating is a presenter's nirvana all the time, and it is not.  The IGNITE sessions in particular should have been set all theater, a much more appropriate environment for the nature of that learning experience that also would have comfortably accommodated far more people.  And we have to find some happy medium between pre-setting a room for the entire day and allowing the optimal set for individual sessions.  Finally, speakers need logistics support.  When several things weren't correct in one of my session rooms, I was left to wander the halls in search of a staffer because I had not been provided any information about how to rapidly contact someone on-site.

The event still touches a minority of professionals
ASAE and St. Louis hit a home run with an overall great experience.  When the most significant complaints are about the rooms being too cold, you know life is pretty good.  But for the love of learning, the America Center folks really need to improve that lighting stat.  It was appalling.

But a minority of ASAE members had this great experience.  And an even smaller percentage of association professionals overall (counting non-ASAE members) were directly touched by it.

That's a problem, or an opportunity waiting for an innovative solution.  TED and other major conferences have a clear strategy to spread their ideas in order to affect change.  The conference experience is just one critical element in their overall strategy for doing so.

Too many other organizations, ASAE included, still treat the Annual Meeting as a learning experience for participants as opposed to an advancement platform for a profession.  Meetings and conferences serve a higher purpose and are a means to a much more meaningful ends: advancing a profession in order to advance a greater good for those the profession serves.

Doing that requires a more expansive and comprehensive design strategy from the onset, one that will be far more innovative than simply offering session recordings on CDs.  The meeting must be designed to enable the rapid and real-time sharing of key learnings, to facilitate and support the transfer and application of conference content into the workplace with colleagues who did not attend, to reach and influence a sizable majority of the practitioners of a profession regardless of whether they were meeting participants or are association members, and to sustain the energy and enthusiasm of the post-conference high months after the event.

So kudos to all involved with ASAE11.  It truly was a remarkable event.  Here's hoping ASAE12 and Dallas think even bigger and bolder about what the event eventually can achieve.

You've Changed, Others Haven't: Tips for Coming Home from a Conference

This is an encore post in honor of the just concluded ASAE Annual Meeting and Exposition.   It was originally published March 11, 2011.  

You went to a conference.

You networked, renewing old friendships and making new connections.

You shared challenges, gained fresh perspectives.

You've returned to work brimming with energy and ideas, eager to share all the insights you have for improving everything in your organization.

Don't.  I repeat.  Do. Not. Share. Like That.

Dial down your "I'm ready to change the world" passion out of respect for those who aren't ready to have their world changed by you.

They did not just come from the mountains of Colorado, the beaches of California, or the fabulous retreat center in the hills.  They've been dutifully slogging away, probably even doing a little extra to cover for your absence.

While they undoubtedly will want to hear what you learned, too much shared too soon will make them want to smack you down or vaporize you on the spot.

Share appetizers not entrees.  Do a summary report of key takeaways and what they mean for your organization and post it on your internal web site.  When talking individually with a colleague, drop in a casual "Hey I picked up some info for you at the conference that I'm happy to share whenever it works for you."

Over the next few weeks be careful to not start every contribution you make during team meetings with "Well at the conference I just attended."  Link your suggestions to existing strategies.  Connect your comments to colleagues' passions and problems.

Yes, you're fired up and ready to go, but to others you can easily seem like an out-of-control blaze who needs to be reduced to ashes.  So let your new thinking and new ideas be kindling you add to others' flames … and keep stoking the fire so it never dies out.

Leadership Limerick: What Do You Have in Reserve?

Every Monday, I offer a leadership limerick, highlighting an idea or strategy about effective leadership in limerick form. Searching for leadership limerick will identify previous posts.

At some point you run out of time
To create even this very short rhyme

But it you stock up in advance
When this happens by chance

Getting results will be an easy climb

I'm at the annual meeting of the American Society of Association Executives right now, one of those multiple-day professional gatherings that is a strange hybrid of exhilaration and exhaustion.

Personally and professionally we all experience peak moments.  Planning for them in advance and having some stock in reserve (whether that be stock for a blog post or stock for the soup you want to make for dinner) makes getting through a busy time far less stressful.

Just as financial planners advocate having several months of income available in an emergency fund, so do we need to stash away some of the resources to get us through any challenging professional times.

What would you benefit most from having in reserve and how well are you doing on stockpiling it?
_______________________________

At the ASAE Annual meeting, I'll be doing an IGNITE session (20 slides, 15 seconds each) talking about the reserves and habits we need to create to have a more sustainable life.  Slides and video will be posted in the weeks ahead.

12 Questions for Better Meetings

Meetings don't have to be monotonous, but ensuring they are engaging, productive, and efficient requires answering some questions at the start.  Here are a dozen that I often draw on as a facilitator or meeting participant.  What else would you add to the list?

1. Let's make sure we are clear on what success looks like for our efforts today.
2. What knowledge or strengths can you contribute to the work we are about to do?
3. What do we need to know about your interests and agenda related to our work today?
4. How are you likely to engage and participate in our discussions?  What's your style going to be?
5. What are preferences or pet peeves you have related to meetings like this one?
6. What support might help you make the most of our time together?
7. What lessons from the past can inform our efforts?
8. How do we want to handle any disagreements that might emerge?
9. Whose opinions or perspectives are not physically represented in/by those actually present today?
10. How do we want to capture the insights and decisions from our discussion?
11. How will we share what happens here today, with whom, and when?
12. What expectations do we have for each other?  The meeting facilitator/convener?

If you're looking for more more insight on better meetings, consider these posts:

Effective Facilitation: A Six-Pack of Favorite Resources
Scheduling Meetings is Not the Same as Planning Them

Leadership Limerick: Avoiding Rejection Dejection

Every Monday, I offer a leadership limerick, highlighting an idea or strategy about effective leadership in limerick form. Searching for leadership limerick will identify previous posts.

People have time and talents to share

They volunteer whenever they care

If you must turn them away

Instead of “no” why not say

We’ve love to engage you elsewhere

Customer service training often stresses the value of saying yes to a customer's request even if the answer is no. "I'm not going to be able to do ____, but let me tell you what we can do in this situation."  The obvious benefit is that customers feel you're helping them achieve their goals even if you're not completely satisfying their need.

Organizations that rely on the contributions of volunteers to get work done (speaking at conferences, serving on committees, working at events) would be well-served to think similarly.  Inevitably, not every potential volunteer can be selected, so plan to manage the rejection so it doesn't lead to dejection.  Say no in a way that keeps qualified volunteers interested and engaged in contributing to your efforts.

So if I'm not selected to speak at a conference, point me to other opportunities  to share my knowledge.  If I am not chosen to serve on a committee or task force, let me know how I can share input or work on projects related to my interests.

Organizations constantly complain they don't have enough volunteers, yet often poorly manage the application and selection of people with their hands in the air.  If you want people to freely share their time and talents, carefully redirect their interest and caring when you must say no to their original interest.