Empowering Leadership and Music Articles
Each article uses our empower framework that we also use for our leadership coaching services.
partners to Celebrate
Yes, that picture is Faye Dunaway, and no that is not Frank Zappa. I always enjoy finding odd things to Celebrate about the artists, and try to tease just enough that if you really want to know more, you can. And with today’s theme being “partner”, this seemed like a perfect place to slot in a story about one of the other major players in the band, and also a short story about partners that I still Celebrate from those days at SMU in the ’70s…
managing Celebrating
Realizing that no one was actually listening made me question why I was giving my nights and weekends to being a college radio DJ. So after a few weeks, I stepped down, but what to do with my time? A few guys on the floor were starting to play guitar in the evenings, and I managed to bring mine back after a weekend at home. Politely, one of them that I was tutoring through Physics pulled me aside and suggested that I might want to switch over to Bass …. as I was actually never going to be good on guitar… honest feedback that many years later I still Celebrate…
Celebrating by engaging
As I headed west from Tyler, my destination was Dallas where I engaged in the fall of 1976 on my path to become an Electrical Engineer. One thing about engineering was once you picked which type (EE, ME, IE, etc), your class schedule was mostly set. To get through it all in 4 years, you had to take 18 hours a semester, and the classes were sequenced so your “planning” was mostly just filling in a few “electives” that were like ‘free spaces’ on the Bingo card. And being a good student, I ripped into the classes, including an 8 am MWF Statics class – a tough ME class required for all engineering majors…
Performing and renewing
After that jarring start yesterday, let’s take a more restful approach for today’s conversation. It is difficult to tell what is real and what is Performing, particularly as you consider another’s or your own stance on faith. Paradoxes of what is said versus what is done can be a conversation that goes in directions that are not renewing for anyone. For me, it has helped to realize it is more a dance, and sometimes the steps are not clear or easy, and balance is hard to hold…
executing the Performance
So who are you… really? A jarring way to start a Saturday conversation, but one that could be well-timed. Freed from your 9-5 commitments, what do you pick up and execute … first? As I have mentioned repeatedly, doing is what I do… Performing and acting. Resting happens only in the process of actually executing something to be completely honest. A weekend is best ended when there are activities that have been completed, things built, people entertained… you get the idea. Performing and execution go hand in hand in my world…
wonder who is Performing?
In my world, we talk a lot about Authenticity. Ironic as we also talk about Performing… and Presence… and lots of other catchphrases that are offered up as insights to help people become “better”. It is a wonder that we make any progress, with over 15,000 books published – each year, and the countless “self-help” blogs, video blogs, and writers like me giving you their pearls of wisdom to make it sound simple. I can offer this insight – it is not easy… but the trick I have found is don’t lose the ability to wonder what it is that makes you Perform at your best. There is always someone to help you in ways you can’t even imagine…
observing while Performing
Working under pressure has always been my “go-to”. Since I am now a coach, people think I have this all figured out, well I do. That IS what makes me tick. CHANGING that is...
Your Partners in Performing
The First 90 Days is one of my favorite topics to work with new leaders on. That time is when they are at their freshest to see things that can really help business change and grow… and also are at the highest risk of stepping into things they are just starting to understand. As it is early in the year, I have a number that are on day 20-30 of that transition, and are feeling the compelling push to Perform – do SOMETHING… and another of my least favorite management “truisms” that is patently false – “Quick Wins”. They are rarely either, and most often damage your reputation with at least one partner.
What manages Performance?
There is an entire industry now built up around what is called “Vulnerability”. Brought to the forefront by researcher Brene Brown, now a legend, the concept is that deep inside all of us are fears that need to be managed. Left unchecked, they can get in the way of our best Performance, and often are topics that I work with leaders to understand and reframe – the coaching word for turning Lemons into Lemonade. The paradox often is that by not showing vulnerability in your early career, you appear to have it all figured out… which, to those of us later in our career, we can remember those days… and how Performance changes….
engaging Performance
A good friend was leading a workshop for leaders, and it caused me to pause. She enjoyed drama and theater, including music and dancing which we had discussed often… as hobbies. She was now offering training for managers on Improv, what they shortened “improvisation” to in Performance competitions. Perhaps from my days in Debate, where the Theater people were… “different” – a feeling they had about us also – I thought it was little off. What would Improv have to do with leadership? And then… I was called in to engage a team with…. no preparation…
The renewal of Harmony
It is appropriate that the week on Harmony ends where my first experiences were: singing at church. Growing up around the College Kids, in the early 60’s they would often be playing/singing Peter, Paul, and Mary songs, and watching them blend their voices “in renewal” encouraged me to learn how to do that. I don’t know exactly what “ear training” is, but there are pictures of me sitting with my Flute-o-phone and those kids where I was playing Harmony. Hearing the notes, and trying to get your brain/voice to match was a fun challenge, which eventually I mapped into reading music… sorta…
executing with Harmony
When teams are at their peak, there are ways of executing together that anyone outside of the team may or may not even be able to observe. Little looks and phrases become cues for Harmony that is hard to duplicate. While the reason for being together may be stressful, those hours of work start to build up muscles that become second nature. In one season, I was in meetings 3 times a day with the same people – 6 days a week. We got tight enough to really understand how to cover for each other’s faults, and build on the strengths in ways that most teams will never experience. What causes that Harmony?
The wonder in Harmony
Finally, we get to the song that triggered the week. I have been trying to be more explicit about leadership and management tips lately, and hopefully, you have gotten a few. Today’s story is so rich that I don’t have space (or the need) to point it out. So wonder with me …. by this point, The Fifth Dimension is well on their way, having won multiple Grammys with multiple platinum records. They were in New York City playing a series of concerts when Billy Davis noticed his wallet was missing – having fallen out in the cab he had just stepped out of. “Well, that’s gone…. “
observing Harmony
We were at the hospital for a procedure, and the nurse couldn’t get the IV started. Without missing a beat, another one came right over, picked up the work … and the conversation … without even missing a beat. As a keen observer of teamwork, I perked up and started to chat her up about what it is like to work here? “It is amazing – from the people who take out the garbage, to the staff that mops the floors, to the administrators who make sure we have what we need, we all come together to provide you with the best care”. We were then whisked off to another room, with a similar experience…. How does that type of Harmony happen?
partners for Harmony
In watching the Food Network with my wife, there is a catch-phrase: If You’re Looking, You’re Not Cooking. Exactly the opposite is true with leadership, particularly now. Before last year, at least talent was mostly limited to work they could drive to… and now, I know for a fact that people have started preparing for the annual spring job search with a NATIONAL target. The war for talent is only going to get more intense as you can work from anywhere, and what will they be looking for? Harmony and partnership – pure and simple. The number one reason people stay is the relationship with their leader…. And the main reason they leave is … exactly the same.
Is your management Harmonic?
Harmony is distinguished from Unison singing – everyone singing the exact same note together. When men and women sing together, even though they are singing the same note, they are often separated by an octave or more. But choosing a Harmony requires intensely listening to each other, and you will often see the singers lean in, cover an ear, and then either read a note or more likely, trust their well-trained ear to pick up a note that blends together with the others. As more singers are involved, you have to be careful to not only hit your note, but stay out of the way of the others… constantly juggling your own musical path with those around you…
engaging with Harmony
A meme popped up last fall pointing out, in February “…a whopping seven planets (the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn, plus asteroid Pallas) will all be clustered together in the sign of Aquarius, creating what’s known as a stellium in astrology. This intense influx of Aquarius’ fixed air sign energy in February will shift our focus to humanitarian issues, technological advancements, and unconventional innovations. And these themes will guide the framework of our society throughout all of 2021 and the years ahead.” But didn’t we hear this already – in 1967 – the dawning of the Age of Aquarius?
renewing Rhythm… You and Your Calendar
The one remaining element of Rhythm critical to Management Hygiene is summarized with a single word: When? All of the work on priorities, partners, directs, strategic planning, even email fail… unless they make it onto your calendar. As I tell each leader: your calendar does not lie – it shows who, what, and why you do what you do, and the paradox is that managing the calendar is the easiest and hardest exercise we do. In one engagement a leader wanted to move from 12 hours a day to 8. As we examined each day, by Thursday, after eliminating no meetings, I moaned, “…so you don’t really want to work less..:”
Rhythm that executes… Email and Writing
I grew up with email. My class was the last class to learn slide-rule in high school, and the first to move from punched cards to a terminal. And it was just as inside IBM and outside networks were starting to connect remote people together in ways that are still taking over our lives. I took typing in high school, not to be an admin (like my first bosses thought), but because being able to do it well was the connection to the rest of the world. Interestingly, studies have shown that people hate email – it takes up way too much of their daily Rhythm and produces very little ROI – and yet, they can’t let go. So who is executing whom?
wonderful Rhythm… Strategic Planning
In the early weeks of the year, the Rhythm of many organizations is “Strategic Planning Meetings” – otherwise known as “…wonder what the heck do we do now?” It is the place where the realities of last year, the current market assessments, and the dreams of the future come together to set out goals for this year. Similar to “Feeding the Bear”, well-run organizations have what they projected for “this” year from last year’s “5-year plan”, and can simply reorient that to what is now happening. But particularly last year has probably thrown that up in the air… or has it? Who sees over the horizon that you need to find?