1. Driving Leader Engagement by Building
a Strong Community of Leaders
Jeffrey Mills
Global Learning & Performance Manager, Amgen
Vince Molinaro, Ph.D.,
Managing Director, Leadership Solutions, Lee Hecht Harrison
8. Leaders who demonstrate a bias for:
•getting important work done
•always moving things forward, and
•taking personal ownership for one’s words,
actions and outcomes
9. Most believe Leadership Accountability is a critical business issue…
Leadership accountability is a critical business
issue in my organization
My organization has clearly communicated our
leadership expectations to our leaders
We have a high performance culture with highly
engaged and productive employees
Our leaders demonstrate a high degree of
commitment to their role as leaders, not just
their functional or technical roles
Now, on a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 is strongly disagree and 5 is strongly agree, please tell us how much you agree or disagree with the following statements.
10. The Top 5 Behaviors that Define Accountable Leaders
1. Hold others, including their team (direct reports), accountable
for high standards of performance
2. Tackle tough issues and makes difficult decisions
3. Act in the best interests of the organization, rather than for
themselves or their team/department
4. Work collaboratively with peers to break down silos and align the
efforts of teams across the organization
5. Express optimism about your business and its future
11. 3 Things Industry Leaders do Better than Others
to drive a Culture of Leadership Accountability
Culture of Leadership Accountability
By Net Difference Between Industry Leaders and Those Average and Below
12. 3 Organizational Practices Industry Leaders focus on
to make their Leaders more accountable
Organizational Practices
By Net Difference Between Industry Leaders and Those Average and Below
13. Polling Questions
• Leadership accountability is a critical business issue in my
organization
• My organization has clearly communicated our leadership
expectations to our leaders
• We have a high performance culture with highly engaged and
productive employees
• Our leaders demonstrate a high degree of commitment to their
role as leaders, not just their functional or technical roles
30. ShoreTel’s LBR Objective
• Leadership Business Review (LBR) is ShoreTel’s community of
leaders.
– Focus on strategy and building a strong culture where leaders
demonstrate trust, alignment, clarity and commitment to business
strategy.
33. My Top 5 “Leadership Contract” Tips
1. Start at the Top. Start with the Business Results.
2. Customize and Cascade Key Concepts
3. Have Fun! - Sign it, frame it, and display it!
4. Integrate Lessons Across the Network
5. Measure and Course Correct
34. The Way Forward
• LBR participants connected to the four terms to their own
roles.
• Create LBR learning path to support needs identified by
community of leaders.
• Strong Community of Leaders exercise used to identify issues
and topics for future LBR meetings.
– Repeat survey every 6 months to leaders
This is a question that I feel every organization is asking itself today.
Organizationally, we ask ourselves that question because we look at our world, we look into the future, and we see a world that is a little more complex than it was a generation ago, more chaotic, with lots of opportunities, but a lot more risk and the kind of leadership required for the future isn’t necessarily what has gotten us there in the past. So we need to think about how do we take our leadership game to the next level? And that conversation is happening with every organization and every sector we work with at Knightsbridge.
I actually feel that we’re asking ourselves this question at a personal level, but for different reasons. This is more about us as regular, everyday people getting our news, seeing the stories of leaders who have lost their way. Embroiled in scandal, corruption, behaving badly – whether they are politicians, business leaders, athletes. Whatever it is, you hear story after story. We’ll get back to this later. And we ask ourselves – is that what leadership is really about?
During election time, you see signs everywhere with all the key words – results, integrity, accountability, responsibility. Part of us hopes that those who are elected live up to what they’ve promised. But part of us is very cynical because we’ve seen senior leaders let us down. And so, this is an important question. I’m going to ask you as an opening activity to talk about what your answer is to this question. Given where you are right now, in your role in this organization, what does it mean to you, personally, to be a leader here today?
Take a few minutes, we’ll hear a few responses, and we’ll use that as a platform for some of the ideas we’ll discuss today.
Allow 5 minutes for discussion
AR:
Talking some of the elephants in the room
Visionary
Strategic
Respectful
Open
Enabler
Demonstrated personal commitment
Honest
Guiding
Allowing failure
From your lists, being a leader today is a big job, and the expectations are high.
Almost 3/4ths of companies WANT leadership accountability ( 72% critical issue), but only about half have communicated their expectations and less than half have achieved high commitment and high performance cultures.
This shows what accountable leaders do different than non accountable leaders
So when leaders like yourselves are in the room and you limit interruptions, you can start engaging in a useful discussion about leadership.
Anecdote:
One participant asked “What is leadership?” I’ve learned it’s not about levels, a position, a hierarchy - anyone can make the decision to be a leader. If they see something in their organization that’s not working, they make the decision to make it better. That sense of decision is really important.
When I said that, one of the participants said “I never got to make that decision.” So I asked his story. He was an engineer by training and he loved being an engineer. And so he was spotted by his organization and was given a group of people to lead. Then he said he found himself on this whole set of stepping stones – every couple of years a new role would come up, more people to lead, more money. And as he took on more and more senior roles, he realized that he was getting further away from what he really loved – engineering. Now he was the VP of engineering for the company. And he said “If I look back, at no time did I ever deliberately pause and ask if this leadership stuff is what I really wanted to do.” he realized that he hadn’t made that decision. He went on to say that if he had been really honest, he made leadership his part-time job. He had the title and the role, but he didn’t take it as seriously as he should have because engineering is what he wanted to do. He remained the expert, advising the team, getting involved in the projects, and when he had a small window of time, he’d be the leader.
As he spoke, everyone in the room went silent. And when that happens, you know that his story struck a chord with others.
Given the world today, we can’t afford to do what this engineer did. You can’t click agree and take the next role. We need to click pause and really consider what we are signing up for. What are we taking on? Are we prepared for taking on the responsibility of leadership?
So, once you’ve decided to be a leader, the next step is to realize that it comes with big expectations which you flagged earlier on. But there’s more to it.
Everyone needs to ask themselves - Who is the company? As leaders, we need to acknowledge that we are the company. We can’t complain about what’s not working. We need to realize that the organization isn’t separate from us. We are the organization and it’s our obligation to step up.
It’s important for all of us to be really clear about what that obligation is. What is the primary obligation that each of you has in your roles?
The greatest leaders I’ve had the privilege of working with are crystal clear on their obligation – they can tell you immediately. And it guides them every single day. This is critical when you are presented with a dilemma or challenge and you need to know how you’re going to see your way through it.
Intro to ShoreTel’s Leadership Business Review (LBR)
LBR Background & Objective– 2013 to Today
The Leadership Contract at ShoreTel
Results and The Way Forward
The ShoreTel Way
Fundamentally different unified communications
Since 1996, ShoreTel has led the way with innovative business communications solutions. Onsite or in the cloud, we've got the best business phone solutions for your business.
To be the comminutions platform for small and medium business by connecting people, simply, whenever and however the choose
ShoreTel’s LBR Objective
Face-2-face meetings every 6 months, business strategy review, 2 days
Day 1 – Learn activity, Day 2 – Business review by various leaders
CEO commits to 6+ hours for the purpose of providing a significant learning and development experience
Invitation to 100 top leaders that are view as the drivers of the business and the owners of the business strategy and objective
Employee survey finding indicate lack of alignment and buy-in among employees. This is the group that has ownership of this issue.
ShoreTel leaders not connect to key business drives. In prior workshop many leaders, reported that they did not buy-in to top 4 initiatives and were not responsible for the results.
Using a “levels of ownership” exercise with ShoreTel leaders to access the level of self and team/organizational ownership for key results.
Define ownership: intellectual agreement and emotional involvement
Goal: Get ShoreTel leaders to highest level of ownership-Buy-In and invest-when it comes to achieving the organizations key results.
Have the Own It Conversation
How do you move people to this highest level of ownership
Persuade them and help them gain intellectual and emotional involvement
Adoption of the belief: If I can’t make the “tie” to me personally, then I don’t Own It
Use smart questions (1) “How am I contributing to the gap?” to increase ownership and close accountability gaps (2) Increase results and ask the question “What else can I do?”
ShoreTel’s LBR started back in 2013 with focus on driving individual and organizational accountability. We started right at the top with the senior leadership team and managers. Workshops and performance support tools were used to facilitate this effort. The ShoreTel culture needed attention and our CEO and senior executive invested time and effort in careful analysis with input from leaders, employees, HR and consultants.
Out of this effort, ShoreTel elevated the discussion about the way we live and work at ShoreTel. Systems and processes like reward and recognition/new hire materials/management training embedded in values and beliefs.
One ShoreTel
Best Solution
Market Leading
Earn Trust
Laser Focus
Output from these efforts helped ShoreTel to define it’s version of the leadership contract
ShoreTel PDF contract
ShoreTel Wall Poster
ShoreTel discussion activity for post training discussion at sites
Start at the Top. Start with the Business Results.Partner with senior executives to align leadership contact with key results and to anchor in the corporation’s leadership culture.
Cascade Leadership Contract Key Concepts and MessagesCustomize contract and distribute replicas of signed company leadership contract. Prepare discussion points for use with local leaders and managers.
Have Fun!Sign it, frame it, and display it! Invite everyone of your local leaders and managers to sign the contract. Make sure early efforts don’t fall victim to the tendency to rush out posters and flyers without having conversations and getting person buy-in & investment.
Integrate Lessons Across the NetworkEncourage leaders to stay connected by sharing successes, challenges, insights and questions.
Measure and Course Correct Use "Strong Community of Leaders" survey every 6 months. Highlight those that demonstrate a “one company” mindset, rather than protect turf or be consumed by internal competition.