Essential Leader

Under Pressure: Learning to be a "Clutch" Leader

By Sean Silverthorne

In the sports world, a “clutch” player performs best when the pressure is on, backs are to the wall, and all eyes turned their way. Think Michael Jordan, Joe Montana, Martina Navratilova. When it was all on the line, they not only didn’t wilt, they got better.

Is there such a thing as a clutch leader? Do you know managers or CEOs who rise above when everything is on the line? A bigger question: Can you learn to be clutch?

The latest issue of Harvard Business Review is spun around the topic of military leadership, and there is an interesting blog post on HBR.org about how military cadets learn what it takes to be clutch.

New York Times business writer Paul Sullivan, author of Clutch: Why Some People Excel Under Pressure and Others Don’t recounts a talk he gave at West Point on the subject.

All clutch leaders display five traits, he said: focus, discipline, adaptability, being present, and fear and desire. Read his post for more depth on each of these.

Sullivan’s good news for the rest of us is that organizations can train their performers to respond well to pressure. Sullivan says there are three things business leaders can learn from cadets:

1. Focused on a goal. “When they graduate they will be deployed to lead a platoon, probably in Afghanistan or Iraq. They know the responsibilities and the risks. And everything they are doing is preparing them for that moment. Do you know what your primary mission is at work?”
2. Continuous improvement. “They work in an organization that is continually striving to be better. When a mistake happens, the Army tries not to let it happen a second time. Are you aligned with the right organization? Or if you’re leading that organization, are you prepared to change things that aren’t working, even if change could be hard or even a reversal of something you implemented?”
3. Practice for success. “These cadets are given the physical and mental training that will help them do their jobs at the highest level. They know you have to be able to perform a task perfectly under normal conditions before you can expect to do it in a stressful situation. Can you say the same thing? Are you able to do your job at a high level every day? If not, then you should not be surprised when you make the wrong decisions under pressure.”

Will following this advice make you the Michael Jordan of your business? Well, maybe not–some people are just hard-coded for success in tough situations. But working at focusing on the objective, adaptability to the environment and improvement of skills sure puts whatever natural abilities you have in the best position to succeed when the going gets tough.

Looking through history, who were the greatest clutch leaders? Churchill? Lincoln? Alexander the Great? (Photo of Michael Jordan by Flickr user Cliff1066, CC 2.0)

Leaders Influence Others

Earning the respect of others and learning to use your leadership influence will make you a much more productive leader.

How effective authority and influence over the behavior of others is established depends on an ability to:

· Treat all people with basic dignity and respect;

· Focus on behavior, effectiveness and results rather than personalities;

· Care about people as people first and not as workers;

· Demonstrate expert knowledge about the work itself;

· Use effective communication skills to understand others and to be understood;

· Be open to new ideas from unlikely sources;

· Be willing to change and grow personally;

· Live up to your commitments;

· Make the tough decisions in a timely manner;

· Be on time;

· Be fair and equally in your policies and practices;

· Be lavish with help, encouragement, and praise. Give way more than you receive;

· Bring out the best in others and help them to succeed.

2008 Best In Leadership Development

This year we connected with over 1,000 organizations to determine the best LD programs and practices based on seven criteria:

1.     Vision/mission. Are these statements linked to strategy, meaningful to participants, and focused on target outcomes?

2.    Involvement and participation. How broad is the involvement and how deep the participation?

3.    Measurement and accountability. What ROI measures are made and reported and to what degree is accountability for performance and results part of the program?

4.    Design, content, and curriculum. How well designed is the program? How credible is the content? How relevant is the curriculum? How customized is the program?

5.     Presenters, presentations, and delivery. What are the qualifications of the presenters, how effective are their presentations, and how is the program delivered?

6.    Take-home value. What do participants take away and apply to improve themselves, their families, their teams, and their volunteer work?

7.     Outreach. What is the impact of the program on stakeholders?

We honor the following companies for their efforts and encourage them to keep enhancing their leadership programs and practices. —Ken Shelton

 

2008 - 2009 Top Leadership Development Programs

 

Large Organizations (over 2,000)

 

1.     Ritz-Carlton Hotels

2.    General Electric

3.    Procter & Gamble

4.    Boeing

5.     General Motors University

6.    Wachovia Corp.

7.     Fed Ex/ELI

8.    McDonald’s/HU

9.    Microsoft

10. Qualcomm

11.   Yahoo

12. Caterpillar University

13. Chevron

14. AXA Equitable

15. Farmer’s Insurance

16. MasterCard

17. Northrop Grumman

18. Direct Energy

19. Schwan Food Company

20.    Allied Barton

21. AmTrust Bank

22.    Bank of New York Mellon

23.    Goldcorp

24.    UBS

25.    Black & Decker

26.    Archer Daniels Midlalnd

27.    Textron

28.    Amazon

29.    Disney

30.    Medco

 

Small to Midsize Organizations (under 2,000)

 

1.     Triage Consulting Group

2.    Badger Mining

3.    Carnival Cruise Lines

4.    Wieland (Homes) University

5.     Americredit Financial Services

6.    Container Store

7.     Equity Residential

8.    Johnson Controls

9.    Carilion Health System

10. InsureMe

11.   Analytical Graphics

12. Simonton Windows

13. Acuity

14. Vulcan Materials Co.

15. Genecor International

16. Saltwater Institute

17. Conway Transportation

18. Cross-Country Healthcare

 

Education/Universities/Schools of Management and Business

 

1.     Univ. of Michigan/Ross

2.    Center for Public Leadership, JFK School of Government, Harvard

3.    Univ. of Chicago/GSB/Leadership

4.    UCLA/Anderson

5.     USC/Marshall/CEO

6.    Northwestern/Kellogg

7.     Pennsylvania/Wharton

8.    MIT/Sloan

9.    Harvard Business/True North

10. Utah Valley Univ./CAL

11.   Duke/Fuqua

12. Yale Leadership Institute

13. Stanford/GSB Leadership

14. Emory Univ.

15. BYU/Marriott/Leadership

16. Pepperdine/Graziadio/SBM

17. Carnegie Mellon/Tepper/Leadership

18. Alliant/MGSM

19. Ball State Univ./Ed. Leadership

 

Non-Profit Organizations

 

1.     Center for Creative Leadership

2.    American Society for Training & Development (ASTD)

3.    Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM)

4.    American Management Assoc. (AMA)

5.     HCI

6.    NYC Leadership Academy

7.     International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI)

8.    HR.Com

9.    IQPC/Corporate University

10. National Management Assoc. (NMA)

11.   Manchester Bidwell

12. Conference Board

13. Berkana Institute

14. Leader to Leader Institute

15. Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL)

16. Baptist Leadership Institute

17. SoL

18. Healthcare Businesswomen Assoc.

19. Addison Avenue Fed. Credit Union

20.    Rush University Medical Center

21. Best Practices in Leadership Devel.

 

Government/Military

 

1.     Defense Acquisition University

2.    U.S. Marine Academy

3.    U.S. Air Force Academy

4.    U.S. Army/Westpoint

5.     FBI Academy

6.    U.S. Navy Naval Academy

7.     NASA/Leadership Alchemy

8.    U.S. Army Rangers

9.    ASQ Baldrige Award

10. U.S. Coast Guard

11.   FAA

12. U.S. National Guard

13. National Defense University

14. U.S. Tactical/Seals

15. Naval Undersea Warfare Center

 

Independent Consultants/Trainers/Coaches

 

1.     Zenger/Folkman

2.    Goldsmith/Katzenbach Partners

3.    Korn/Ferry/Leadersource

4.    Jim Collins

5.     Bluepoint Leadership

6.    Ninth House

7.     Human Performance Institute

8.    Synthesis/Leaders Toolbox

9.    Marcus Buckingham Company

10. Tom Peters Company

11.   Guttman Dev. Strategies

12. Strategos

13. Maxcomm

14. Josh Bersin & Assoc.

15. Lebow Company

16. Liminal Group

17. Benchmark Communications

18. Table Group

19. Chip Bell Group

20.    Leadership Challenge/KP

21. Authentic Leadership Institute

22.    Leadership Development Services

23.    iLeadUSA

24.    Arneson Leadership Consulting

25.    Sensei International

26.    Right Management

27.    ISB Global

28.    The Prosen Center

 

Large Consulting Groups (over 6 employees)

 

1.     Linkage/GILD

2.    Results-Based Leadership

3.    Accenture

4.    Senn-Delaney Leadership

5.     McKinsey/Leadership

6.    HSM/World Business Forum

7.     Vital Smarts

8.    DDI

9.    Lee Hecht Harrison

10. Adizes Institute

11.   Richard Chang Assoc.

12. Dialogos

13. Booz Allen Hamilton

14. Hewitt/Leadership

15. Plante & Moran

16. BlessingWhite

17. Franklin-Covey

18. Ken Blanchard Companies

19. Integro Leadership Institute

20.    Forum Leadership Development

21. Personnel Decisions Intl. (PDI)

22.    Human Potential Project

23.    Crowe Horwath

24.    International Leadership Assoc.

25.    Leadergrow

26.    Kepner-Tregoe

 

Best Leadership Practices
The Excellence 100

 

What are the responsibilities of a Board of Directors?

 Recently elected to the Board of Directors for a national organization, I went into my first board meeting eagerly anticipating the chance to learn more from the veteran board members. Imagine my surprise when the first comments I heard suggested, no…clearly stated, that few members really knew what they were supposed to do, that no board trainings had ever been conducted, and that the next planned meeting of the board was more than eight months away! What, I wondered, had I just stepped into?

After doing a little research, here are some suggestions for others who may find themselves on a Board of Directors:

Ten Basic Responsibilities of Nonprofit Boards

1. Determine the organization's mission and purpose. It is the board's responsibility to create and review a statement of mission and purpose that articulates the organization's goals, means, and primary constituents served.

2. Select the chief executive. Boards must reach consensus on the chief executive's responsibilities and undertake a careful search to find the most qualified individual for the position.

3. Provide proper financial oversight. The board must approve the annual budget and ensure that proper financial controls are in place.

4. Ensure adequate resources. One of the board's foremost responsibilities is to secure adequate resources for the organization to fulfill its mission.

5. Ensure legal and ethical integrity and maintain accountability. The board is ultimately responsible for ensuring adherence to legal standards and ethical norms.

6. Ensure effective organizational planning. Boards must actively participate in an overall planning process and assist in implementing and monitoring the plan's goals.

7. Recruit and orient new board members and assess board performance. All boards have a responsibility to articulate prerequisites for candidates, orient new members, and periodically and comprehensively evaluate their own performance.

8. Enhance the organization's public standing. The board should clearly articulate the organization's mission, accomplishments, and goals to the public and garner support from the community.

9. Determine, monitor, and strengthen the organization's programs and services. The board's responsibility is to determine which programs are consistent with the organization's mission and to monitor their effectiveness.

10.  Support the chief executive and assess his or her performance. The board should ensure that the chief executive has the moral and professional support he or she needs to further the goals of the organization.

Reference

Richard T. Ingram, The Ten Basic Responsibilities of Nonprofit Boards (BoardSource 2003).

SEMINAR: SERVANT LEADERSHIP — SKILLS AND PROCESSES

I have a seminar coming up that might interest those who wish to learn more about the power of Servant Leadership. I'll be presenting the seminar at Marylhurst University on September 27, 2008 between 9am - 6pm. Contact the University Registrar's office about registering for this seminar. I'm honored this year to have as a guest presenter Mr. Peter Marsh, founder of the Peter R. Marsh Foundation.

Presented in partnership with the Peter R. Marsh Foundation for Servant-Leadership , this one-credit seminar is an excellent introduction to servant-leadership and offers solid examples of servant-leadership in practice with companies ranging from a large airline to a retail store chain. We will share important stories from these workplaces, differentiating servant-leadership from traditional, more hierarchical leadership models.

The four learning modules of this seminar are:

• Listening and understanding the full meaning of what is being communicated

• Team Intelligence: 1 + 1 = 3

• Team Project Simulation: Putting Servant-Leadership to work

• Stories: Memorable Ways to Share Legacy & Wisdom

These modules give participants a way to experience and practice the fundamental skills of servant-leadership. Participants will assess their personal listening skills, tap into their leadership story and express it to others, and engage in team activities to practice servant-leadership in action.