As 2012 looks us square in the face, we are challenged with many obstacles as leaders in both our personal and professional lives. In their classic book, “The Leadership Challenge,” James Kouzes and Barry Posner encourage us to look back before looking ahead. They write when we first gaze into our past, we elongate our future. We enrich our future and give it details as we recall the richness of our past experiences.

With that in mind, here’s a brief look at leadership lessons I learned in 2011 and a focused approach for 2012.

• Do the hard thing. What does that look like for you? Switching jobs, firing a “C” player on your team, setting new boundaries with relationships that drain you, or maybe pressing the reset button on your marriage?  I did several of the aforementioned and started my own company in 2011 during an economic recession in Southwest Florida and also made some necessary, but difficult decisions in my marriage to win back my wife.
• Be accountable and teachable. One of the traps we fall into as leaders is the tendency to lose our ability to listen and receive instruction. We are looked to for the answers. Be the decision-makers. That’s how we’re wired. I have chosen to surround myself with several men who I’ve given permission to speak into my life both personally and professionally when they see things I am missing. It has helped me immensely in making decisions about business, marriage and family issues, spiritual matters and the like.
• Learn to connect with your family. Yes, I know the saying that our families need our “quality time.” I have learned this year that really means connect with my kids and my wife in the way they desire. With 4 kids, that becomes a difficult charge! I bring them on errands with me, turn off the laptop (fill in the media device here) to be present with them, laugh with them and listen to them. I took my 15-year-old son out for lunch during school on a workday which shocked him. I simply asked, “Are you happy?” It opened up a bright and colorful conversation and after 20 minutes we had truly connected. Try it with your family!

So, what’s ahead in 2012? Start with what matters most to you. What are your values? Mine are Family, God’s will, Hope, Accomplishment and Purpose. Next, plan to step away from the daily grind of emails, phone calls, financials, troubleshooting problems and find a place to think, pray, reflect and write. Start with 2-3 hours and work your way up to half or full days away. I will typically sense a word or two that becomes a theme for my upcoming year like Serve, Purpose or Focus. This coming year the word is Growth. The key is solitude-get away to reflect back and plan ahead. All the best in 2012!

Doug Poll is a Certified Professional Life Coach (CPLC) at his company called The Doug Poll Group. They specialize in coaching executives and leaders and also work with non-profit clients helping them raise money through a unique turn-key golf marathon event. He can be reached at doug@dougpollgroup.com or on his LinkedIn profile as well.

Let’s talk about joining up, starting up, volunteering, letting you name stand, registering and preparing. As a young leader you may be caught up in a whirlwind of activity. You want to be involved in everything and miss nothing. You’re eager to contribute and available to help out. But, should you be involved in everything or have you bought into a schedule and pace that is less noble than it may at first appear?

There is no doubt that we need workers. And good solid leadership is essential. But being spread too thin may do more harm than good. I think there is a better way. Do you remember Jesus parable of the talents? The master said to the servants who had made a good increase on what he had given them to do,  “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.” There are a few things, important things to take care of, not everything, but just a few for those who will be given more responsibility later.

As a seasoned leader I look for young men and women who stick to a task assigned and do it well. They pull together the people to make it happen. They follow through and give it their best. They aren’t off in all directions but remain focused on what they have been given to do. These are the emerging leadership who will be able to handle increasing autonomy. They will make good executive team contributors. They will be some of the best leadership of tomorrow.

What are those few things that would be best for you to put your full attention to? If you are willing many will want to shove you to the front for all sorts of responsibilities. You may need to resist that happening. I have coached many older leaders who are in overload. They share several things in common and need to make similar shifts in their thinking.

a.   They find it hard to say “no” often enough.

Shift from thinking you must respond to every need to realizing you can’t do everything for everybody who asks.

b.   They subtly start to believe they are indispensable.

Shift from thinking no one else will be able to do it as well as you to trusting the abilities and giftedness of others, and allowing them the space to grow.

c.   They buy into the thought that constant activity and busyness is a sign of higher commitment.

Shift from trying to prove something to others to passionately doing well those few things you feel are of highest importance for you to carry out.

Leaders who make things happen do so because they have developed an effective individual pace and over time proven the benefit of clearly knowing what they need and need not be involved in. They practice priority management (which is really all about self-management isn’t it). They don’t major in busyness.

What does your upcoming agenda look like? The leader who carefully and respectfully declines requests while passionately committing themselves to “a few simple things” will most likely be able to sustain a level of commitment that contributes to success and satisfaction.

Key Questions:

1. If you made tomorrow’s to-do list right now, what would the “few simple things” be, that if attended to tomorrow, would actually result in the greatest gain?

2. What are the “few simple things” that you feel compelled to be involved in for this next season? Are they in line with the things you really feel passionate about?

3. What items on your to-do list have become “a few complex, energy draining, and unfulfilling things”? What will you do about this, starting today?

In coaching engagements, our clients typically realize considerably more than a one percent improvement almost immediately. The point is … they are moving forward, momentum is building.

A one percent improvement is very achievable, even for busy people. One percent a month over ten months is a ten percent improvement. Ten percent is significant, isn’t it? I certainly think so.

Cast in point: The Power of Three

Imagine starting, working on without interruption and moving through to completion, the three action items each week that would make the most significant impact on moving your goals forward. This month you stay focused and practice the Power of Three for a modest one percent monthly improvement. You have managed to achieve the absolute most important things each week for a whole month.

You continue this new habit for 10 months and you have made a 10% improvement in starting and finishing the highest priority items that will make the biggest impact each and ever week. What would that ten percent add up to in new revenues, lives changed, time and resources saved and bottom or top line results?

My Challenge to You

Here is a challenge I’d like to give you.  Make a 1% improvement this week.  And then continue a simple 1% improvement each week for the next month.

What is important enough for you to make one tiny improvement on,  starting now?

A project you are engaged in?

The way you go about handling a certain routine?

Relationships that need attention? (Harder to measure, but do-able.)

Your office systems?

You get the idea.  Small steps build up over time.  Ten weeks means ten percent, and a ten-percent improvement in anything gets noticed.

If you should choose to take me up on this, don’t leave it to chance.  Track yourself.  Be definite.  Clarity leads to results.  And finally, enjoy it.  A small 1% improvement isn’t heavy and burdensome. Celebrate it.

SMART goal setting is a necessity for self leadership. When you look at any sample professional development plans or inquire about creating a personal leadership development plan, you will find setting and achieving goals as one of the core practices.

Here is a goal setting activity that if practiced will accelerate you toward your highest and best priorities. Good goals are critical to better time management and execution. SMART is a popular and well used acronym. Moreover, it’s a helpful tool for moving forward.

1. Using the SMART Goal Setting acronym, analyze goals you have made in the past and how effective they have been.

2. Then develop a new set of goals based on the same SMART goal setting criteria.

Working through a goal setting activity like this will make you much more aware of just how you have done in the past and what you need to make the best goals possible for the future.

A lot of us are goal deprived, preferring, more by default than anything else, to just let life happen to us. This is one of the sure roads to stress and burnout. I once read that less than 3% of people put pen to paper and write down their goals. I am sure much the same could be said for many of our organizations. Interestingly, it is the same 3% who accomplish more than all the 97% combined.

Let’s get started with this goal setting activity. Using the acronym SMART, here are the things to aim for when you write down your goals. Check yourself against them.

Goal Setting Activity – S

Specific Well defined Specific goals define the desired outcome, objective or benefit to be delivered. It defines the specific target you are aiming at. This allows you to focus your thinking and efforts.

No ambiguity– Goals are clear to anyone who has some understanding of the organization.

Clear. Clarity in goal setting is critical. Specific goals let everyone know what, when and how much. Specific goals allow you to measure progress toward completion.  What – What do you really want the result to be?

Where – Define a location if this is important to the goal.

When – A specific date on the calendar

Who – Who is involved?

Why – This is the motivating factor. Why are you doing this? What are the benefits of accomplishing this goal?

Example: An ambiguous goal would be: “I want to begin painting again.” A specific goal would be “I will submit two paintings to the art show on November 10th”.

Goal Setting Activity – M

Measurable A measurement lets you know when you have attained of accomplished your desired end result. For example, numbers are easily understandable measurements – 8 months, 4 days per week, $100,000 dollars, 60 pounds, 2 paintings.

Progress – When you can measure, you know how much is completed and how much farther there is to go.

Celebration – You have a measurement that allows you to celebrate important milestones on the way to your goal.

Benchmark – Here’s where I started and what I measure against. Here’s how far I have come.

Deadline – November 10th is a deadline. You can’t be much clearer than that. Target dates assist you to stay on track. It has been said that a goal without a deadline is just a dream. Because you have recorded the goal, you can point to your completion of it as a success. It builds confidence and locks in proof that you can accomplish what you set out to accomplish.

Goal Setting Activity – A

Action-Oriented Action words are clear. “I will submit “ is a whole lot clearer than, “I should submit”; “If I get two paintings done, I’ll submit” or “I would like to submit”. Many organizations I have worked for, have mamby pampy goals (no, make that wishes!) that will likely get them no where. Action verbs get you somewhere. That’s why we call this a goal setting activity.

Measuring something that is being done is easier than trying to measure nothing being done.

A – Attainable   Some people set goals that are unattainable. I have nothing against big goals. But if there is no way you can accomplish ‘world peace’ in your lifetime, that is unattainable. Making a brief to a UN forum on world peace to be held next year is attainable.

A goal should be a stretch, just beyond our immediate grasp, or just beyond employees and volunteers immediate reach enough to pull us forward and challenges our comfort zones to accomplish. It provides a sense of excitement, anticipation and desire to reach the goal.

Set right – A goal set too high or too low (less than the normal standard performance) doesn’t hold any relevance. It will be dismissed and ignored. A goal that is set right will start you thinking on how you can make it happen. You begin to increase your capacity for reaching the goal by adding skills, attitudes, experiences and resources (both human and physical) that can assist you to get there.

A – Agreed Upon – All stakeholders agree what this goal should be.

A – Acceptable – If you set the goal, your motivation for reaching it is much higher than something dictated from the outside. It is ‘acceptable’ to you, in line with who you are as a person and how you best perform. Tomorrow we will conclude this goal setting activity.

We cover much more detail in the courses, programs and coaching that we assist our clients with. Those who pay attention move further in a shorter period of time.

Goal Setting Activity – R – Realistic

There are people, resources, information and time to make this happen. It can be a reality. ‘Realistic’ is not a substitute word for ‘simple’ or ‘easy’ and you may have to stretch to make it happen, but it is within the realm of reality to accomplish.

Keep in mind that to one person this may be totally unrealistic, while to another, the thrill of knowing that it just might be possible moves them forward. (I love seeing that light come on with a client.) Many scientific breakthroughs and new product developments have been made in this way. It required a steep learning curve but the end result was achieved. Witness the US program to put a man on the moon in the 1970’s.

Be sure in your own mind that this goal is possible, even if people have to push the barriers of what is now known in order to get there. It was Henry Ford who said, “If you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.”

The key is that you believe it can be accomplished and you are ready, willing and able to do whatever it takes to make it happen. Keep in mind that a whole series of smaller goals can add up to a spectacular result over time. It’s all in the strategic approach you take.

R – Relevant   The goal must somehow relate to who you are or who your organization is and where it is going. Will it contribute to furthering your mission and the vision you have of the future?

Goal Setting Activity – T  

Time Framed; Time Bound; Time Structured Enough – You have allowed enough time to achieve the objective and not so much time that the goal drifts off into lack of momentum and obscurity.

Set the time – There is nothing like a good due-date or deadline. They are specific, clear and totally capture your focus. Have a starting point, ending point and fixed ‘reporting’ times along the way. Reporting or ‘checking in’ overcomes the tendency to just let life happen and get caught up in the daily ‘stuff’ of life, business or ministry. Example: First painting to be done by Aug 15. Second to be done by Oct 31. Submit both to the Art Show by Nov. 10th.

Break larger goals down into more manageable chunks. As in the example above, two paintings represent two projects.

What have you noticed as you went through this exercise? Maybe you thought your implementation of goals was poor but you discovered your action was off because your goals were ill-defined. That’s a very important point to note. Whatever you learned, take the time to make the adjustments you need to get you on the path to success. And I do wish you every success in setting SMART goals in life, work and leadership.

There you have it …   a SMART goal setting activity or methodology to begin using for yourself.

You don’t know what you have the capacity for until you reach for it. You don’t know what you are capable of achieving until you must or you choose to reach for it.

We all know people, who against great odds have done some pretty incredible things. Sometimes adversity created a context that meant they either reached for ‘the impossible’ or collapsed. Other times it was a conviction that they could reach some hitherto unattainable goal that drove them forward.

The point is, you just don’t know what you are capable of.

There are, however, some things we do know.

• You are capable of more than you think you are. If you are able to think, “I could never do it” then you are capable of thinking, “Maybe I can go a lot farther toward doing it than I previously thought.”
• If you don’t even try it is a ‘for sure’ that you won’t achieve it. In fact if you don’t try, you won’t achieve anything.
• If you do try, you will have the satisfaction, whether or not you ever achieve it, of having given it your best shot.
• Every small step achieved builds confidence. It provides proof that you can if you try. One step builds on another and leads to success.

When you achieve it, who knows what else you might actually be capable of. Maybe way, way beyond your previously small thinking.

So, what are you capable of? You don’t know. And I don’t know. But I can predict that you are capable of achieving far more than you currently think you can.

So reports an interesting January 8th article from the BBC News on a study at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuro-imaging at UCL.

Study lead, Dr Tali Sharot noted, “Our results indicate that when we consider alternative options when making real-life decisions, dopamine has a role in signalling the expected pleasure from those possible future events.” The doctor went on to say, “We then use that signal to make our choices.”

In that same article, Professor John Maule who works at Leeds University Business School on decision making, noted that “… in recent years people had begun to realise emotional or “gut instinct” decision making was just as important in human choices as analytical decision making.”

In my thinking this translates … we analyze all the facts but decisions are often made largely on feelings.

We have a gut instinct, a sense of whether or not something is going to be pleasurable and to what degree, a sense very early on of whether or not it might be ‘for us’ or not. We feel it deep down. Either that is affected by dopamine levels or it creates them which then get translated through the wonder of our whole person into decision making.

Interesting. Since it is out of my professional depth, I’ll only fall back on what I do know for sure. Truly, we are “fearfully and wonderfully made”, Psalm 139:14 The Bible.

As my coaching clients have spent time with the questions and their answers, good decisions have been made.

Here are a ten of the fourteen questions. If you are being asked to assume responsibility, whether it be a promotion, new company or new leadership role, take the time to sit down with a piece of paper and a pen and write out your answers. That way you will be very intentional and capture your thoughts concisely. This will enable you to make a better decision about your future.

1. Am I really committed to this cause and the people it represents? If you are not, don’t put yourself or them through the pain. Those who take ownership will put their all into it and stand a far better chance of success.
2. Do I have confidence in the senior leadership and feel I can support them? If any doubt lingers about the senior leadership, deal with the questions now. You will have a lot to do with them and your current inkling may end up your lengthy headache … or worse.
3. Can I make the time for this leadership responsibility without creating excessive stress? In reality, how much time do you think this will take? Knowing your own style, will you allow it to consume your time to an unhealthy degree. Preemptive action may be necessary.
4. Do I and my spouse agree about this decision? If you don’t … don’t. If you enjoy a good relationship with your spouse, they are your first line of defense in making a good decision. They know you, care about what happens to you and how it will impact the family.
5. Leadership issues take discernment. Am I a discerning person and can I improve that competency? Some leadership positions require real wisdom. There are tricky issues to deal with. If that’s not you, then say no. If you are willing to grow in this area, then move forward humbly and open to learn.
6. Do I have any hidden agenda that could sabotage meetings or others on my team? If being in this role is all about you, your agenda may be the unspoken problem in every meeting. Deal with that stuff now, not later. Be up front about truth.
7. Are there any continuing things in my life that if people knew about them would disqualify me from serving? Get those things cleaned up now. Don’t live with guilt and the fear of being ‘found out’. Failures are not final. Learning from them is priceless.
8. Am I a good team player or do I generally want my own way? The organization is headed for trouble with a dictator at the helm. If you see yourself as the great ruler, get down off your pedestal. Learn how to work with the team. Provide great leadership and you will garner the respect that can dramatically move things forward.
9. How have I been prepared for this task? Experience, skills, interests? Simple question with big importance. What has brought you to this point? The sum total of who you are will determine where you go and how you lead the organization or project forward.
10. To what degree am I willing to change so that I can make a more effective contribution? There’s the rub. Are you willing to change? Those who are intentional about looking hard at themselves and making real personal and professional change, move forward. Others languish at the level of their refusal to do what’s needed to reach up to their potential.

We all have a sense that corporate and government wheels grind slowly as decision making winds its way through successive layers of bureaucracy. But the small business person can make a decision quickly. Do they? Often yes. But many times no.

Often hanging on to a dream, a method, a boast, an image or a feeling, the small business entrepreneur waits too long to respond quickly to reality and implement needed changes. The result is that they either run out of time or money and suffer the consequences.

Odd, isn’t it that these business leaders can make a lightning fast decision and turn their small enterprise in a new direction. They have the ability to change quickly. All they need to do is say the word. But they hesitate.

Hesitation isn’t because of outside influences so much as it is because of those internal ‘struggles’ to hang on to that dream, that way of doing things, the pride that made the boast, the image that has been put out into family and community and the feeling of control that the unfamiliar path would challenge.

Those who run successful small businesses make considered but quick decisions. They don’t let internal self-talk and feelings get in the way of taking the actions that are needed to move successfully forward.

Don’t wait too long to make needed adjustments. Be honest with yourself about what is holding you back from doing what you know needs to be done. Then decide and move fast.

Running a small business isn’t for the faint of heart. But to those who can make the decisions that need to be made, it can be a very successful, lucrative and totally fulfilling enterprise.

We’ll have to see how this unfolds. Of course the 2010 G8 Summit, perhaps the last of the G8′s will still be held in Huntsville. Many in the area feel Muskoka could handle the numbers the G20 would generate as well.

Regardless of whether you are from Canada, United States or one of the other G8 or G20 countries, if you are looking to work with an Executive Coach or a Leadership Coach in preparation for next year, please contact us.

There are perfectly good reasons for this.

• Top position really is a quite isolated place to be.
• Decisions involve issues that cannot be made public yet.
• Millions or billions of dollars may ride on a single decision.
• Whole careers, projects, programs or divisions may disappear.
• The opportunity is so exciting you don’t want to get it wrong.

With my own clients I am most often engaged as a sounding board for tough decisions. It’s not that the leaders and executives I work with can’t make the decisions. These are savvy, smart men and women who didn’t get to where they are by shying back from making the tough calls.

It is however, that they realize the benefit of having their thinking challenged by penetrating questions and alternate perspectives. In a completely confidential environment they welcome the opportunity to think through and review their line of thinking. They relish going down the rabbit trails to see where it will lead them … without anyone making a big deal about it.

They invite the time to think about right positioning the correct people without being bound to their words. Thinking it through is good.

I fear we are being conditioned to rush into decisions without our best thinking being put into it. We are being groomed to solve complex problems in 30 minutes (minus the commercials). But too much rides on those decisions to leave them to the fickleness of copying a fictional world.

Sober second thought and thinking it through are still in vogue for our best leaders. They don’t rush into final conclusions on major issues. And that’s why so many of them use a personal coach, a behind-the-scenes partner who draws the best out in them and helps them make decisions that can stand the test of time.