www.danielharkavy.com » Culture

Leadership Moment: Check Your Vision

Daniel Harkavy — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 17:27:42 +0000

In this Leadership Moment, Daniel shares tips on how you can utilize your Business Vision this week to improve your organization’s culture and results.

Unable to view the video? Click here.

Finding Those Who Have IT

Daniel Harkavy — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 16:01:17 +0000

It is good to be back in the office today after a huge week in Sunriver. Some of you might know that we just finished The Building Champions Experience, which is the real crown jewel event for our company. It consists of four days of business and life coaching with over 225 attendees, and it‘s a ton of fun for our team!

During the Experience, there are main-stage lessons and small breakout sessions on topics ranging from life planning to exceptional customer service to best practices for strategic thinking. With this wide range of topics, there was one question I was asked more than any other during the week, and it is the basis for this post.

“How have you assembled such an amazing team of caring and incredibly talented people?”

I know why they asked this question. Given the chance to see our team in action, as they did during the Experience, it becomes obvious that most of them have talents and skills that exceed my own.

Over the years, I have found that when you’re looking to add new people to your team, they either have IT or they don’t. What is IT? Here is a series of questions that have really helped me to find IT people.

• Are they really passionate about the products or services you offer? They have to really dig IT!
• Would they build IT, sell IT, account for IT, systematize IT, or do IT for free? If so, figure out how to pay them well for doing IT.
• Do they want to serve others on the team in order to make IT awesome? They must want IT to be done more than they want recognition.
• Are they willing to fight for IT? They have deep convictions about how IT makes businesses, people or the world better.
• Is there more to them than just IT? Hire people who are well rounded and place a high value on people and interests outside of the IT factory or office.
• Do they have fun in life? If they do, they will bring more energy to work, and will do IT better.
• Do they want to be the best at IT? Hire lifelong learners who are humble enough to admit they will never have IT truly mastered.
• Do they want to share IT? If they don’t want to tell their friends and family about IT, they don’t really believe in IT.
• Do they keep pursuing you because they want to play their role in making IT happen? Hire those who know that great things are worth pursuing relentlessly over time.

I hope this helps you to build and grow your own talented team.

Do you get IT?

Culture

Daniel Harkavy — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 19:39:10 +0000

Daniel shares some observations about successful team culture in this follow-up to his recent post, The Monday Morning Huddle.

25% Fun

Daniel Harkavy — Tue, 11 May 2010 22:46:42 +0000

Last week I sent a few Tweets from Colorado Springs where I was facilitating an executive retreat with a wonderful group of clients. If you happen to follow me on Twitter, you may have seen this picture of me with a sweet Rainbow Trout in my hands. The caption read, “Fun executive retreat today!”

I got some interesting comments after sharing that picture. I heard everything from “You charge for this?” to “What a boondoggle!”

Today, I want to share my observations about excellent leadership, magnetic cultures, respectable results, and fun.

I am a huge fan of magnetic cultures. When I see and experience them, my curiosity races. I want to do all I can to learn about the leadership of such companies. While investigating magnetic cultures, I’ve observed many of the expected attributes that fill the pages of leadership books. But I’ve also found something that is rarely written about in the business world: FUN!

I am convinced that the companies with the most magnetic cultures, who achieve the most respectable results, are those with leaders who have fun with their teams. They actually enjoy spending time with those they work with, and they even make time to hang out together outside the office every now and then.

The next time you plan an awards trip, a leadership retreat, and executive off-site, or an all team meeting, challenge yourself to invest 25% of your time into having fun.

When I lead executive retreats, I usually conduct them over a two day period of time, and I break those two days into four quadrants. One of those quadrants always incorporates some type of a fun experience.

Last week, it was fly fishing. This was a first-time experience for 6 of the 8 executive members. Six months ago, we spent an afternoon on a horseback trail ride through the beautiful mountains around the Broadmoor.

At BCI, I have fond memories of beach bonfires, mountain hikes, go-cart races, laser tag, and wakeboarding. Even as I write this, I know that I must take my own advice and make sure that we are making time for these kinds of activities more often!

There is something about having fun together that creates a bond within the group. These shared experiences create camaraderie and relieve stress. When it’s time to get back down to business, you’ll find yourself more refreshed and invigorated.

Have 25% more FUN, and you’ll be amazed at how much more you accomplish with the remaining 75%!

Conflict: Friend or Foe?

Daniel Harkavy — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 19:25:01 +0000

This post is dedicated to my friend Patrick Lencioni. His fantastic model for teamwork in his bestselling book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team helped me to better understand the value of conflict. I strongly suggest you read this book.

In The Five Dysfunctions, Patrick says that many teams struggle with the fear of conflict. They do not understand that conflict in the pursuit of truth and improvement is a good thing. They believe it to be mean and bad, instead of loving and beneficial. This struggle exists not only in the workplace, but also in marriages and other close relationships.

If people are not equipped to engage in healthy conflict, then they either fight in unhealthy ways or they hold back their feelings and impede the growth of those around them.

Conflict is a friend when entered into from a position of care and concern, with the desire to see improvement. When a team is equipped with the ability to engage in healthy conflict, they can make better decisions and get even better results.

So what do you believe about conflict?

If you are one who loves conflict and seeks it out for the wrong reasons, counseling can help. Conflict is an enemy when it is entered into with the intent of always winning. This “must win at all costs” mindset can hinder your ability to find truth and improvement, and can make you pretty miserable to be around.

If you are one who avoids conflict at all costs, then I urge you to reconsider. There is a balance, and it has to do with pursuing the best outcomes, even if that means your perspective is not the right perspective. You can enter into conflict more comfortably when you are coming from a position of truly caring for the hearts of those you are going to engage with, and being passionate about finding the best outcomes.

If this comes easily for you, then you can help others around you by modeling healthy conflict. If this something you find challenging, you can start by openly establishing the rules of engagement with your team and those around you. Keep away from personal attacks, and push for healthy conflict in the pursuit of truth and what’s right.

You will see improved thinking, smarter decision making, more buy-in, and healthier relationships.

Here’s to improved debate,

Asset or Advantage?

Daniel Harkavy — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 18:13:13 +0000

Last fall, at the Building Champions Experience, I gave the opening presentation. The topic was centered on best practices for success in challenging times. Earlier in the year, as I prepared for this presentation, I interviewed several clients and friends who serve as leaders of large organizations to identify the most common behavioral disciplines.

During my interview with a client who is the CEO of a UK based petroleum additives organization, the topic of team came up. He said that he believes we fall short as leaders when we see our teams as an “asset.” He explained that people do not want to feel owned, or to have their value summarized on a corporate balance sheet.

His belief is that our team is more than an asset. They are our competitive advantage.

I agree with him that a leader’s strategies and actions are different when they see those they lead as their competitive advantage rather than an asset. When we believe our team is our competitive advantage, our culture becomes much more focused on development and learning. Those that have this mindset allocate more dollars to coaching, workshops, and professional education.

I think there is an even bigger difference that exists within this type of a culture. When a leader believes that his team is the organization’s competitive advantage, he will encourage much more collaboration around strategy and innovation than will the asset minded leader. The advantage-minded leader knows that the success of tomorrow rest in the minds of his team today, and he is more intentional and skilled at tapping into them for ideas and solutions.

This was yet another great lesson for me, not only in preparation for that opening presentation, but as a Coach and CEO. Since that conversation in the first half of 09, I have been thinking about our team at Building Champions a bit differently.

This improved thinking is causing my disciplines to change as well. I have always believed that my team is responsible for everything good that happens for us as a company. Seeing them as more than an asset — as our competitive advantage — is a definite improvement in my thinking.

How do you see the team you lead?

Bifocal Vision Required

Daniel Harkavy — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:04:12 +0000

In challenging times, most leaders spend the majority of their time playing defense. This means time spent reviewing cash flow, sales reports, and financials so they can make the best reactive and tactical decisions in order to survive. Cost cutting, expense control, layoffs…..ugh!

Dealing with these very real scenarios can really bring a leader down. And the unfortunate thing is that, if he spends too much time each day focused on these activities for too long, he and his team will begin to lose sight of why they do what they do. They will lose sight of the mission, they will no longer see opportunity, and they will lose hope.

Ultimately, if the leader has both eyes down on the data, the organization’s health and culture will suffer.

For the last few years, I’ve been saying that the best leaders have what I call bifocal vision. They have the ability to keep one eye down looking at reality while keeping the other eye up looking at the future. They do spend time managing to the very real challenges of today. But they also spend time playing offense, sharing vision and executing plans that will help them and their teams to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I know from personal experience that this can be very difficult for a leader. But without bifocal vision, I have seen leaders kill their organizations — long before they ran out of cash.

Action Plans:

Schedule time to review your key reports or scorecard. Weekly is usually enough, but during times of crisis you may need to see the data daily.
Schedule time weekly to review your vision. During times of crisis or real challenge, you might need to review it daily.
Share a portion of your vision with your team weekly. This can be done by discussing a conviction and its corresponding behaviors during a weekly team meeting. Or you could communicate one key element of what you see the organization or team becoming in an email message (or for even greater impact, try recording a short video from your desk). The purpose is to keep the team balanced between dealing with the very real and sometimes painful changes of today, and remaining passionate and engaged with the possibility of tomorrow.

Keep one eye down and one eye up!