Book Recommendations
from Bret L. Simmons

From Bret's review: "Even if you have gotten started with social business, you might not be doing it correctly or at least have great room for improvement. This book can help because Gary articulates the powerful operating principles as well as anyone because he practices that he preaches."

Order now from Amazon!

From Bret's review: "I wish I had written this book. I believe strongly that leaders and companies that make social media only about marketing are missing a HUGE opportunity to to radically transform their entire value chain. But I am glad that Charlene wrote it, because through her diagnostic exercises, checklists, rich examples, and systematic approach to open leadership, any leader with an open mindset can follow her advice and get results."

Order now from Amazon!

Good Organizational Citizenship Requires Basic Civility

March 26, 2012 by Bret L. Simmons · Filed under: Leadership, Video

The process of leadership is dependent upon responsive organizational citizens that recognize the ethical imperative to assume full responsibility for their behavior in the workplace. At a minimum, good organizational citizenship requires treating others with professional courtesy and respectful civility.

I have to confess that’s not always easy, especially when you work with people that march to the beat of a different ethical drummer. There is a fine line between “righteous indignation” and incivility, and those that cross that line usually do so with a healthy dose of self-deception.

Good organizational citizenship requires initiating professional courtesies to everyone at work independent of their response to those courtesies. We are only responsible for how we choose to treat others, not how they will respond.

Civility is a sign of strength. Those that attempt to manipulate and bully others usually do so because of a fundamental character flaw or weakness. It’s not our responsibility to fix those flaws for others; however, we do have a responsibility to assertively speak the truth with grace.

Leadership needs our citizenship. How will you respond today? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below!

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Tags: communication, leadership development, organizational citizenship behavior, organizational culture, values
Posted in Leadership, Video | 6 Comments »

The Fundamental Attribution Error In Action

March 11, 2012 by Bret L. Simmons · Filed under: Leadership

At an event I recently attended, a senior leader gave his organization a presentation on how to handle conflict. He said a lot of things I agreed with, i.e. conflict is inevitable and try to be part of the solution when conflict arises. As good as some of his advice sounded, a fundamental flaw in his assumptions caused me to learn more about him as a leader than anything new about his presentation topic.

He framed the beginning of his presentation by asking his audience “do you have a complaint against this organization?” A few minutes later he asked this rhetorical question again and then followed it immediately with “don’t you trust your leaders?”

Oops.

He never saw it, but in that moment he exposed his true beliefs – “if you have a complaint about this organization, then there must be a problem with you.” He never once said “it’s our responsibility as leaders to care about your complaints and to partner with you to fix what is broken.” It was a classic example of the fundamental attribution error in action.

Even though his rhetoric encouraged creative conflict, I can guarantee you that his behavior at work discourages real dissent. He is unable to perceive that his theory in action is different than his espoused theory. Alas, his “wisdom” will keep him from really learning, and his own learning disability will constrain his organization’s ability to learn and grow.

What do you think? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below!

Attributions: Model The Way When Problems Occur At Work

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Your Core Performance Technology

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Tags: attribution, Bret Simmons, conflict, leadership development, learning, organizational culture, responsibility
Posted in Leadership | 20 Comments »

Leaders Must Loathe Incivility

March 5, 2012 by Bret L. Simmons · Filed under: Leadership

I try to stay away from religion and politics at this blog, but I’m going to give you my two cents worth on the Rush Limbaugh controversy because I think it speaks to leadership. As you probably know by now, last week Mr. Limbaugh made some very disparaging remarks about a Georgetown law student named Sandra Fluke. He called her a slut and a prostitute on his radio show. Mr. Limbaugh has apologized but many of his corporate sponsors have withdrawn their support for his show.

Ms. Fluke testified before the U.S. Congress about insurance coverage for contraceptive drugs. People have religious views about contraception and political views about health insurance. Both Ms. Fluke and Mr. Limbaugh have legitimate but different perspectives on these issues. Reasonable people should be able to engage others in issue-focused conversation about the merits of their positions without the use of derogatory rhetoric.

Corporations are organizations of people. Leaders of corporations approve corporate sponsorship of individuals on all sides of the political and religious spectrum. I like that because it supports a marketplace of differing ideas. If we don’t like the views of someone that a corporation supports, then we are free to choose to spend our money with the company’s competition. One clear goal of corporate sponsorship is to sell more products and services, so corporate leaders continually evaluate the costs and benefits of everyone they support.

As a service provider, Mr. Limbaugh has to assume full responsibility for his choices and the consequences of his behavior. But Mr. Limbaugh is also seen by many as a thought leader in his “industry” and the standards of conduct for those we call leaders simply must be higher. The most important issue here is not Mr. Limbaugh’s integrity but our own leadership integrity.

Mr. Limbaugh’s incivility toward Ms. Fluke was totally unacceptable. Even if I agreed with his views, I’d choose not to listen to him because of the way he conducts himself. It’s more a matter of my character than of his. As Bob Sutton says “Avoid pompous jerks whenever possible. They not only make you feel bad about yourself, chances are you will eventually start acting like them.”

Leaders, guard your mind because it is the gateway to your heart. If you allow yourself to love incivility in any form, then eventually you will begin to speak and act the same way. Lend your ear to those who speak what you believe to be true in ways that respect the basic dignity of those who happen to disagree. Civility is a personal and corporate virtue we need to honor and reward.

What do you think? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below!

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Civility

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Nourishers and Toxins

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Tags: accountability, Bret Simmons, incivility, integrity, leadership development, responsibility
Posted in Leadership | 19 Comments »

The Difference Between Management And Leadership

March 4, 2012 by Bret L. Simmons · Filed under: Leadership

In the new chapter to the paperback edition of his book, Good Boss, Bad Boss, Bob Sutton asserts that there is a difference between management and leadership, but focusing on it is dangerous (p, 263). He concurs as I do with Warren Bennis that “managers are people who do things right and leaders are people who do the right thing.” Bob thinks this distinction is accurate; however, focusing on it is dangerous because:

“It encourages bosses to see generating big and vague ideas as the important part of their jobs – and to treat implementation, or pesky details of any kind, as mere “management work” best done by “the little people.” Even if left unsaid, this distinction reflects how too many bosses think and act. They use it to avoid learning about people they lead, technologies their companies use, customers they serve, and numerous other crucial little things.” (p. 264).

Bob’s concern about people considered leaders neglecting the art and discipline of managing details is certainly warranted. Any vision, strategy, or decision – no matter how brilliant it sounds – is worthless if it can’t be efficiently implemented.

My concern is about the larger number of folks in our organizations that implement these decisions that either fail or refuse to see themselves as critical to the process of leadership. Leadership might be in the job descriptions of those that hold c-suite jobs, but it’s the responsibility of everyone in the organization. I’ve worked with too many people over the years that behaved as if they were “little people” and effectively shirked their responsibility to care about anything larger than their proximal role in the organization.

The best leaders continually pursue skills that enhance their mastery of management efficiencies. The best managers always realize that effectiveness is the real goal, and efficiency is necessary but not sufficient for sustaining a healthy organization. The best organizational citizens understand how their roles are interdependent with every other role in the organizational leadership process.

What do you think? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.

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Tags: Bret Simmons, leadership development, learning, partnership
Posted in Leadership | 14 Comments »

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