Leadership – AC Demo

February 2, 2016

Great Leadership Is All About Authenticity

When it comes to leadership, the words that often come to mind are “strong”, “bold” or maybe even “tough”.

We expect our leaders to be fearless and know how to make decisions.

A good leader absolutely needs confidence and must be willing to make difficult decisions. A great leader must also be able to build trust. Nothing builds trust like authenticity.

Someone who is authentic is willing to be transparent. Is willing to admit to a mistake or misjudgment. They speak from the heart. They aren’t afraid to be vulnerable.

Being authentic and vulnerable isn’t about crying or giving insincere pats on the back. In fact, nothing will sell you out faster than trying to fake authenticity. You can smell it a mile away. Faking authenticity will destroy your credibility.

Let them see you sweat

Some people take the advice “never let them see you sweat” a little to literally. It’s fine advice if you’re about to start an arm wrestling competition or facing off against an angry dog. It’s terrible advice if you want to lead a functioning team.

Too many people think of vulnerability as a weakness. In fact, there is nothing more courageous than admitting you have flaws or that you’ve made a mistake. It shows you are willing to be accountable. It builds trust. If your team can trust you, they will respect you. Those are the most productive teams.

Finding your authentic self

Not everyone demonstrates emotion the same way. You don’t have to fundamentally change who you are. If you’re not comfortable with showing emotion, you can still show your authentic self.

The first step is to really know yourself. Be honest and understand your weaknesses. Listen to the feedback of others. It’s not a condemnation, it’s just admitting that you are human and have flaws.

Don’t be afraid of your humanity

You know that guy who can never admit that he’s made a mistake? Don’t be that guy.

Be open to saying, “Yeah, I was wrong about that.” If you mess up, say you’re sorry. If you need help, ask for help. If there’s something you don’t understand, ask for it to be explained. Those are not signs of weakness or incompetency.

On the other hand, if you are someone who really believes that you’re always right, you have more work to do. Just because you think it, doesn’t mean it’s true.

Start by being aware of your thinking and your feelings. Check in to make sure you are dealing with fact and not interpretation.

I often tell my clients to tap into what they “Think, Feel and Want.” In any situation where there’s tension or disagreement, take a breath and take a moment to work through “What do I think is going on right now? How do I feel about it? What do I want?”. When you have access to what you think, feel and want you’re reactions are a choice and much more authentic.

Check it out with the other person. This is not easy but when you’re direct, it removes any ambiguity. It should not be an accusation. You are just checking to make sure you have the right information. Hopefully the other person is authentic with their response, but you can’t control that. However, it will make your thoughts and feelings perfectly clear.

It takes practice

For many of us, being vulnerable and authentic takes practice. As a society, we are taught to hide our feelings and lack of perfection. Leaders who are open to showing their true selves, and allow other to do the same, build teams that trust each other.

Teams built on trust are more productive, aren’t afraid to be innovative and can handle change better. After all, they aren’t wasting time trying to hide their flaws.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Jackie Lauer is a Corporate Culture Guru and founder of Heart of Culture, a passionate leadership coach and often invited keynote speaker. She is also the Accelerator Centre’s Leadership and Culture mentor. Known for her no BS approach and sense of humour she’s here to help you transform your company’s culture into a thriving workplace.

January 14, 2016

Massive Growth, Employee Satisfaction at Axonify Starts with Good Leadership

by Rose Behar

This post originally appeared in Techvibes

Waterloo-based Axonify, an e-learning platform that uses games and incentives to make corporate learning fun, ended 2015 with a staggering $10 millin in annual recurring revenue, doubling that number from the beginning of the year and growing from a team of around 30 to 60.

Of top importance to CEO and startup veteran Carol Leaman, however, is that they did so without losing their internal culture, and she says her focus remains on making that a priority as they add an estimated 35 more new employees over the upcoming year.

“I think that one of the critical elements is for me to stay very closely attached with the staff,” says Leaman, who adds that the company is bringing in a third-party facilitator in February to do a company-wide session on culture and values. It is this sort of accessibility and careful consideration of employee input that keeps Axonify employees gushing about their employer.

Lindsay Cournoyer, Director of Marketing Communications describes Axonify as “led by an experienced leadership team who is totally trusting and transparent.”

Software developer Mitch Dickinson also comments on Axonify’s leadership, saying, “The management team of Axonify is stacked. All our top executives are serial entrepreneurs that have successfully been through the trenches over and over again.”

The leadership team’s accomplishments are definitely impressive, and none more so than Leaman herself, who previous to purchasing an extremely early version of Axonify, sold her startup PostRank to Google. She also successfully built and sold manufacturing software company RSS Solutions and virtual reality player Fakespace.

With such a wealth of leadership experience in early-stage companies, it’s no wonder Leaman knows how to helm a harmonious office, but even she notes, “I do think we have something special going on here. When you have people say the best decision they ever made was to come and work here… it makes me feel good that’s for sure.”

Suzanne Hyatt, VP of Human Resources, says she believes there are many reasons for the great work atmosphere at Axonify, giving examples such as Leaman and the rest of the leadership team taking time for one-on-one coffee dates with employees, bi-weekly lunch meetings where employees recognize each other for positive contributions and a yearly team survey.

“We also have a very active social committee,” adds Hyatt, noting that there are many informal social events in the office, from cards to fitness challenges.

Friendly competition in the office is also stoked through the use of the company’s own product. All team members, including the management team, participate in an internal version of their e-learning platform, which challenges users to answer questions on company and product knowledge in order to win points that can be used towards eBay-style auctions on prizes.

“We have a product that delivers results,” says Greg Boyd, Director of Customer Success, noting that his pride in their product is one of the main reasons he loves working at Axonify.

Leaman also identifies the product as a huge element in Axonify’s culture.

“If people don’t believe in what they’re selling, and they don’t see the value in it, it’s hard to be invested in the company.”

Ultimately, Leaman believes a great working culture takes a large amount of trust.

“I’m a person who firmly believes that every single human being comes to work every day really wanting to do good things… and in my experience when you trust people to come to work with that attitude they perform in ways that you just don’t even expect.”

December 1, 2015

Creating Meaningful Core Values That Drive Success

This post originally appeared on Jackie Lauer’s LinkedIn page

Most leaders see the benefits of having formal corporate values. With the right investment of time and energy, corporate values lead to greater engagement, improved performance and overall success. When they’re not done properly, you end up with hollow statements that no one takes seriously.

Meaningful core values are part of a company’s DNA. They articulate what an organization stands for, highlighting the expected behavioural norms and skills. They form the core of its culture.

Your company’s core values influence the employees you hire and how your company spends its time and money. When tough decisions are needed, it’s your values that drive them.

Core values: more than “the CEO said so”

Too many times, a company’s values are determined by direction from above. “The CEO says this is what we stand for. Send it out to employees and put it up on the wall.”

Taking that approach can cause more damage than not having any values statements at all. First and foremost your leaders must be committed to upholding your values no matter what.

Being committed may seem like a no brainer, but when a situation comes up that calls for a difficult decision, it can be tempting to forget the values. If one of your values is respect in the workplace and you have a key, brilliant executive who is a well-known tyrant, are you willing to confront the issue and invite them to leave if they refuse to change? If your values include quality in your products, can you turn down a client if they ask you to cut corners for the sake of speed?

Nothing will kill your efforts faster than leaders who do not lead by example. Your values will be rendered meaningless, which creates cynicism, destroys employee engagement and reduces productivity. Bottom line: it’s bad for business.

I am blessed to be a mentor at the Accelerator Centre in Kitchener Waterloo. I am often asked by our start up clients if identifying their core values, or even their culture, matters at such an early stage. The answer I always give is a resounding YES! The reality is that the core values already exist within the founding partners but they are just not conscious of it. Somewhere in their decision to become a company and to partner with each other they were honoring some values that were very important to them. My job as their mentor and facilitator is to help them to consciously articulate their mission, their vision and their core values. Those core values are what they use to hire those first critical employees in their startup and those same values, much like big business, are used to drive behaviours, decisions, and ultimately performance.

Tips for working on your own values

Developing your corporate values takes time. The process should never be rushed. Leave room for reflection to make sure you can actually live with them.

Pull together members of your organization. Include your leadership and also involve a broad representation of your employees and members of your customer groups and partners.
Share stories to uncover what’s actually important to your company. Ask questions like why did you want to join the company? Why do you continue to work here? Why do you buy from us? Ask for tangible examples of a recent awesome moment or important decision that demonstrates what’s important to the company. Remember, values guide our behaviour and our decision-making.
As you go through the stories use a facilitator to listen for action verbs and capture the value statements.
Once all the values have been captured, identify the common ones and look for those that overlap with similar or same meanings. Get your list down to four or five key values to live by.
Now it’s time to ensure these really are your core values. Look at important decisions that were made in the past month or quarter. Identify where those values were not really honoured. On the other hand, what values were honoured when those decisions were made? Meticulously review every part of your operations to understand if there is any place in your organization where you cannot honour your values.
Now that you have your list of four or five core values, ensure your team can describe them in detail. Values must be seen as fundamental, enduring, and actionable. If they are too vague, no one will know how to follow them. The best test is to figure out how to explain them to a new employee, with concrete examples so they know what your values look like in action.

Living those values in the day to day

It will take time and effort to weave your values into everything you do, from your hiring methods to customer service. They will impact performance management, how you reward employees and dismissals. Your values will be at the heart of what you promise customers and how you react to complaints. You’ll witness a definite connection between your internal culture and the brand you present to the world.

When a company is operating according to its values, it’s like a well-oiled machine. There’s a surge of energy. It’ll be reflected in your employees, they’ll feel connected and proud of their work. Productivity can improve dramatically as teams and departments are aligned to the right priorities that support common goals. Conflicts are quickly mitigated and even prevented.

You’ll stand out against organizations that make empty promises. Your customers will see it too, making it easy to feel good about choosing you.

July 28, 2015

Top 10 Tactics for Managing in an Empowered Environment

By Kurtis McBride, CEO, Miovision

When I talk about our empowered culture at Miovision, people – particularly potential hires – tend to ask essentially one question: How does one “manage” in a culture in which everyone is bright, talented, and encouraged to contribute equally?

It can be a challenge, especially during times such as these; times of rapid growth and exciting innovation. If a manager empowers a team too much, it feels like abdication. If he or she empowers a team too little, it feels like micromanagement.

We’ve developed ten tactics to help our leaders better understand their roles and find the right balance. I shared this document with the team, but it is also summarized here:

1. Define the Purpose

Your most important role as a leader in an empowered culture is to define and continually promote Purpose. Purpose can be defined for a specific project or for the company as a whole. Without Purpose, no team can be expected to execute in any way, including an empowered way. Talk it up. Talk it up, all the time.

2. Live the Values

Your second most import role as a leader in an empowered culture is to live the Values of the company at all times. At Miovision, we have two sets of Values: Core Values and Product Values. We apply these Values dogmatically; there are no exceptions when it comes to our Values, period. One of the more critical parts of a leader’s job is the interpretation and application of the Values to everyday decisions.

3. Use Emergent Planning

In an empowered company, staff stakeholder buy-in is vital. Your staff has to be on board with your goals and actions. At Miovision, we use Emergent Planning. It requires three tools that can be found in any office: sticky note pads, pens and a whiteboard. It’s a simple process:

Pick a topic that you are trying to set goals for
Determine the stakeholders who need to be part of setting the goal for it to succeed
Have stakeholders come to a meeting with specific actions they believe are part of the goal
Have everyone independently write down the specific actions – one per sticky note
Take turns sticking the notes on the whiteboard, grouping them with similar sticky notes as you go
Collaboratively devise common phrasing for each group of actions that stakeholders agree to.

At this end of this process, you will have developed a goal that all stakeholders are aligned with.

4. Use the 3-Decisions Rule

In a truly empowered environment, differences in opinion can lead to deadlocks. Enter the 3-Decisions Rule. As its name would suggest, this tactic allows each leader to break with Empowerment and unblock deadlocks three times a year. The 3-Decisions Rule achieves three things:

It sends a message that while leaders can disempower on occasion, it is a scarce commodity that they reserve for only the most critical of situations.
It creates a space in an empowered culture where teams know that if a leader uses as decision, he must have a good reason, because he just used 1/3 of his annual capacity.
More often than not, it creates a culture where teams work hard to build consensus so their leaders do not have to use one of their three decisions.

5. Drop Breadcrumbs

In a fast-growth environment, a company must embrace constant change – and as we all know, companies and individuals tend to be change-resistant. In a traditional hierarchical business, a leader can “force” change into the organization. In an empowered organization, though, we must build constituencies to create change. One way for leaders to do this is to “drop breadcrumbs.”

A leader seeds the benefit of the change with the stakeholders who would benefit from it and encourages the stakeholders to share the seeded idea with individuals who need to change their process or behaviour. Over a short period of time, several stakeholders will approach the individual, each with their positive perspective on the required change. This will often result in the individual coming to a conclusion that the change being advocated is not only required but also in their own and the company’s best interest.

6. Create a Vortex

Sometimes breadcrumbs take too long and a high-growth company needs to ramp up to maximum velocity. On rare occasion, a leader may need to create a “vortex.” Danger: it’s disruptive and can lead to feelings of short-term disempowerment, so should only last a week or two. An example of a vortex might be the creation of a small, focused team with an intense meeting schedule. The goal of the vortex is to create a new normal (new process, new team, new culture, new project, etc.) in a compressed timeframe.

7. Be a Woodpecker

Like the Vortex, being a woodpecker should not be overused. Being a woodpecker can be combined with other tactics or used on its own. Being a woodpecker means that at regular and deliberate intervals, perhaps every morning, you check in on the status of a project, priority or task. It’s repetitive and you can feel like you’re being annoying, but it demonstrates to everyone the importance of what you’re asking about.

8. Use Tribal Accountability

The most effective way we have found to drive accountability in an empowered organization is to use the power of “tribal accountability.” Here, a leader does not drive accountability using traditional top-down tactics. Here, we use daily stand-up meetings, open team presentations of progress, and weekly/monthly company meeting formats. These meetings create public discussion and commitments, break down silos, and distribute accountability through a team.

9. Organizational Structure = Intersection of Passion, Skill, Need, Values

Our organizational structure is optimal when each individual is working on something that he or she is passionate about and uniquely skilled at. Leaders here must be able to answer which of the five states below each of the team members is in:

Someone fits the values, is working on something he is good at, that the company needs, that he is passionate about it.
Someone fits the values, is working on something he is good at, that the company needs, but he is not passionate about it.
Someone fits the values, is working on something he is passionate about, that he is not good at, or that the company does not need.
No one is working on something that the company needs because no one is passionate about it or good at it.
Someone does not fit the values.

Number 1 is the ideal state for an individual in an empowered culture. Numbers 2 and 3 should result in the leader and the individual working together to get to Number 1. Number 4 should trigger a new hire to be added to the team. Number 5 should result in coaching from the leader and/or a transition for the individual.

10. It’s Better to Multiply than Divide

The key enabler of growth for an empowered organization is the capacity of leadership to increase its own capacity. Culture is the culmination of values, purpose and the daily experiences created through the nine tactics above. The role of leaders at Miovision is not only to use the tactics, but also to teach the tactics to emerging and newly hired leaders.

And that’s the key thing: If you work for Miovision, we’ll show you how to put the “power” in “empowerment.” We are committed to it.