Chris Fuller's Iditarod Leadership

Today is not the day to quit!

2011-04-04T09:44:00.001-05:00

I could crank out another book – just on this topic… but for now.. a quick, down & dirty blogpost of encouragement…

Let’s talk about paths today and let me start with the encouragement – Today is not the day to quit!

There are many times that we encounter difficulties along our paths to success and there are MANY times along our paths that we want to quit and give up. Today is not that day!

Paths have rocks and mud, paths have inclines and declines, they have places that are overgrown and places you couldn’t find shade if you wanted to….

Paths have times where you can see for miles and when you can barely see the next step in front of you.

You are going to want to quit – but - Today is not that day!

In a keynote to 400 leaders last Tuesday I asked, “Anybody ever had a problem-free Year? Month? Week? Day?”

The fact is our paths are paths and all of these challenges are going to be a part of the path!

As quick as possible, get past thinking about and feeling the challenges on the path and get to:

• What does my path look like right now?
• What will it take to get me to the next part of the path?
• To get me past this part of the path?

Write it down… start working toward it!

• Have there been times when you conquered your path?

Make a note of those times – remember them – draw strength from them – DON’T live in them – but remember them!

• Have times when the path has conquered you?

Analyze these… find out what the circumstances were and break it down until the unknowns become known and you can work to remedy them.

Your path is not my path, nor the paths of those around you – each of our paths are unique AND similar – there are times when we are going to go through similar things – we are going to be on the same path at the same time – and there are times when our paths will separate and your path will not be my path – once again.

The success of someone else on their path does not limit you ability to succeed on your path!

If someone else is presently succeeding – celebrate their success with them and internally draw strength that someone is succeeding – even if it is not you – someone is succeeding and it should give you hope. You were not put on earth – to be an example of failure for those around you – failure is not your “Destiny” (see previous post) and Today is not the day to quit!

• What do you want your path to look like?

Dream, Strategize, Create the process, Work the process, Don’t Quit!

Today is not the day to quit!

What bib number did you draw?

2011-03-04T12:41:00.000-06:00

This week, after being in Tallahasse with a client, I flew to Anchorage for the start of the Iditarod Trail Dog Sled race. (Many of you know about my book, Iditarod Leadership, and my passion about the great leadership lessons learned from mushing and dog sled teams)

Last night was the annual Musher’s Banquet. There was entertainment, a meal, auction items and a chance for the race fans to interact with their favorite musher. As each musher was called to the stage to reach into the Mukluk (boot) where they draw for bib numbers (Bib numbers represent when they will start (which position)) there were pockets of cheering and it was a great time to recognize their sponsors and those that have contributed, greatly, to their being able to run this race.

So here’s what is on my mind for today… What bib number did you draw in life? What bib number do you feel you drew in life?

You see the drawing of starting position in the Iditarod and in life is, completely, random. We have NO control – whatsoever – over to whom we were born or to what circumstances.

What are your thoughts on that? How do you feel about the circumstances of your beginnings in life?

Now that you have that in mind – let’s deal with it..

There is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING you can do about where, when, to whom, and the conditions of your start – nothing – and because you can do NOTHING about the starting position – it becomes a fact – it becomes your starting position and that’s it.

You might be saying, “Chris, You don’t understand…” and you may be right – but here is what I DO understand – regardless of your starting position – you finish is much more dependent upon your daily actions and attitudes than your starting position.

Your starting position is your history – you are already on your trail – already running your life race… Run it with pride – Run it with intentional purpose… which means – determine your desired destination and set the course to obtain it.

I have talked and shouted many times – that your start is not your destiny – your start is your start and DESTINY – is the same root where we get ‘destination’ from – it is a place that you decide beforehand to make as you goal – your destination – your “DESTINY”.

If you need more schooling, more economic opportunity, more connections, more anything – go for it… what is stopping you from achieving?

Your bib number?

SO WHAT?

That’s the bib number we were given – we can’t change it – we can’t let it define us! It adjusts our process to achieving success – but it CANNOT effect us unless we allow it.

DECIDE your desitination – your Destiny – or as I call it – you’re “BURLED ARCH”

Make a list of what you will need to get there – or start seeking the knowledge of what will be needed to get you there

Start – RUN! GO for it!

Betting on ’11?

2011-01-10T09:31:00.000-06:00

Would you bet on your ’11?

What are the odds that you will succeed in 2011?

What is your belief about your odds in ’11?

50/50?... 60/40?... 40/60?...

The number says a lot about where your mindset is coming into the new year. And yet it IS a New Year!

Has anything changed? Has your outlook changed? Did you suddenly get a new contract on January 1 that made your entire year? Are you thinking about the year? Or just making through the month?

Our mindset coming into the New Year is a big indicater of where our year is already headed. As I rise to face the new day today – I am challenged with making sure that my mindset – my mental focus is sharpened to key off of the energy I want, the destination I want, and the results I want.

As the mind goes, as the beliefs go, and the focus goes – so goes the life…

This morning, as I face the start of the new week – and the 2^nd week of the year – my challenge is that I define my mindset, my belief set for the upcoming week, month, quarter.

Would I bet on my ’11?....

Would I bet that my ’11 will be better than my ’10 or ’09 or ’08? Would I bet that my ’11 would be better than the most successful year of my life? That I would achieve more this year? or reach more this year? Or attain more life satisfaction than ever before?

The challenge – the bet, if you will, comes down to this… I bet if I change my beliefs and I change my actions – I bet my year will be better than if I don’t!!!

How about you? Bet with me? Bet with me that if we choose to align together for the next year – and choose to hold each other mutually accountable for our beliefs, perspectives, and actions – that if we intentionally focus on the right things and tweak the right processes – that we will achieve more – than if we isolate, dwell, linger, regret, fear, and maintain status quo.

Last year is last year – my mistakes are in the past, my successes are in the past – my only bet – is to bet on my ’11. My actions and my thoughts in my ’11 will play a major role in my ‘success’ for 2011...

Me? I’m betting on ’11!!

A Little Insight on 4 Time Iditarod Champ Jeff King

2010-03-23T15:16:00.004-05:00

There are many lesson to learn from this year's Iditarod! We will cover some of those over the next few posts. Before we do, I wanted to post a link to a blog post from Bruce Lee that pays homage to one of the Leaders in this sport. He is a 4 time champion and has had a lasting impact on the sport:

Jeff King Blog Link

What can we learn from this about leadership? What attributes are similar in great business leadership?

Have a great week!

2010 Promotional Video

2010-03-15T07:16:00.006-05:00

Our 2010 promotional video has launched and can be viewed on YouTube by clicking here:

Chris Fuller 2010

New Events Page launched for Iditarod Leadership!

2010-01-29T06:36:00.001-06:00

Click here to view

The Start before the Start

2009-12-07T09:56:00.003-06:00

It's hard to believe that we are heading into the last few weeks of 2009. For some it will be, "Good Riddance!", for others, "Not Bad.." or "Hey, we did great!"

Regardless of your expression and feelings about 2009, there is a new year and new opportunities in front of you and the start of your next year officially begins in just 3 weeks! A time of renewal, of re-dedicating ourselves to our purpose and, hopefully, gaining useful insights into the patterns or occurrences of the past year.

I really struggle between helping people through talking about 'Purpose' and helping them through talking about 'Process'. Process isn't sexy. It's not the perception that's given off by World-Renowned, Charismatic, 'Motivational Speakers'! They have the reputation to stir up the inner spirit and to 'motivate' us to believe in the power of the dream and dream and dream and dream!!!

I LOVE THAT! It's what the 'Burled Arch' is all about… Reaching the Dream!

AND my heart goes to, "How?"

I think that it may, actually, be worse to have a dream and not know how to make it happen than to never know what that dream or purpose was in the first place.

You see, there has to be BOTH – purpose and process, "the dream" and "the daily", if we are ever going to reach our "purpose"….. "on purpose"

To start the process, we have 3 areas of focus for the next 3 weeks.

What's the dream? Has it changed or revised since the start of last year? (Burled Arch)
Review and learn from the progress of our race toward the Burled Arch in 2009 (Evaluate and Evolve)
Purpose the process. (Ready and Checkpoints)

The Action for our 'Race' will occur in 2010 – and although it is EXTREMELY cheesy – the only way that we are going to "Win in '10" - is if we have "Purpose" AND "Process" .

I warned you about the 'cheese' factor, right?

To close out 2009 with the most benefit possible let's spend some time this week thinking about the last year. I would encourage you to take a consultants approach to your year, as opposed to a participants approach.

As a participant, you are going to feel all of the bumps and bruises over again as you relive each moment…

As a consultant, we recognize the emotions but search, dig, and glean for the lessons and ways for 'process improvement'

Try to step outside of your year and take a look, if needed – meet with your team or someone outside of you and your team for this process – it will pay tremendous dividends when done right!

The next 3 weeks will be a time of getting ready for the start of 2010. Let's start STRONG – in fact, let's start NOW.

Have a great week!

Iditarod Leadership Book - Now Released for Sale!

2009-10-30T13:38:00.005-05:00

We are very excited about the first shipments of the book being released. Please stay tuned for more details and to follow the impact that the book is having on leaders and organizations. To purchase one or more copies of the book, prior to the release into bookstores, please click below:

For Case pricing please email us: Books@IditarodLeadership.com

Key to Success of another New Season

2009-09-01T11:27:00.002-05:00

The First of September has always symbolized a change for me. The vacation season is over, kids are back in school and, hopefully, the oppressive heat of the Texas summer will give way to cooler temperatures. We have turned a corner - all the great aspects of fall are on the way and a new found hope with it – even now, the air in the early morning is starting to smell different.

For mushers aspiring to compete in this year's Iditarod – the season is turning their attention to building the strength of their team – to start locking in on the preparation of the team!

Being from Texas, I equate this with football camps - the initial, mini-camp workouts that are designed to start the process of getting everybody's head in the game, evaluating talent, and hitting the weights to build the muscle that will be needed for later. It's time to burn off the 'Goo' – the speed of tomorrow is built on the 'muscle' developed today - It's time to get busy!

As much of an 'Action' guy as I am – I know that the 'action' needed at the beginning of the season centers around preparation. The definition of 'Preparation' talks about a state of 'Readiness' and after all it's Ready, Aim, Fire – not Fire, Ready, Aim!

For our teams and for us as leaders – what is our next step of readiness? What event or 'race' is in the not too distant future that you need to get 'Ready in Advance'?

From the practical side, whether it's preparing for a meeting, the next product launch, or the Iditarod – we can gleam some best practices to improve our skill set:

Leverage the past to prepare for the future

Conduct debrief sessions

Review and Critique the last Plan / Preparation

Is there a way to improve our planning and preparation process? What are our tendencies when it comes to preparation? Who has this strength on our team?

Review the lessons learned from the last event

One of the most powerful methods of current preparation is to avoid repeating past failures or mistakes.

"Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it" - George Santayana

Many times, we hold onto the pain of the experience and forget the lesson – let's flip this and learn the lessons while forgetting the pain!

What happened in the past?
What were the corresponding results?
What do I need to DO differently? What do we need to DO differently?
What were some of the underlying assumptions that brought us to our previous conclusions?
Were there areas or aspects that we failed to anticipate?
Where did we miss the mark and fail to execute effectively?

One of my favorite sayings is, "Today's problems cannot be solved by yesterday's thinking. Yesterday's thinking caused today's problems!"

We'll look at different areas of preparation this week and start to build out the plan for better planning and preparation.

Tomorrow's successes are built on today's preparation! It's a new season. Time to get busy!

Essentials: Being the Real Deal

2009-08-25T20:07:00.003-05:00

The Real Deal, Authenticity, setting the standard – whatever the phrase you chose to use – the team will never run beyond your example (unless they are running away!)

As leaders, if we could hear our team – they would say, "Be the real deal". There are so many in this world that are more pretense than present tense… In other words they just aren't real.

I believe with all that is in me that the leader should be the one that set the example – the one that pays more than others pay and gives more than others give – after all – isn't that 'leading the way'?

I LOVE the fact that at times the mushers in the race will jump off the sled and run beside it with the team – to me it speaks about commitment – Leaders must set the example when it comes to commitment and paying the price..

What do we do when it's cold and rainy and we don't want to train? We get up, get out, and train anyway! When we don't 'feel' like paying the price? We pay it anyway!

I just don't know that I could take knowing that my team had a greater commitment level to the cause and a greater work ethic than myself.

My heart is that leadership sets the standard to the point where it goes beyond the status quo – to the point of actually "inspiring" the team to deepen their commitment, deepen their resolve, and creates that incredible culture of 'fanatics'.

'Enthusiasm breeds Enthusiasm' is one of my favorite 'isms'. It breathes the 'fire' and then continuously 'fans the flames' – not in any sense of unfounded 'hype' – but in the uncompromising belief in the cause. A love for the race, and the commitment to pay the price – each and every day – that makes attaining the 'Burled Arch' a reality – and in doing so creates a tremendous sense of pride and purpose within the team. Call me an idealist if you will…. But if we are not bought in and 'sold out' to our cause or mission or race – how would we ever expect anything of greatness out of our team?

Seeing the commitment, tenacity, and determination of a Lance Mackey, Lance Armstrong, Martin Luther King, Ghandi, Mother Theresa –serves to inspire the rest of us – to challenge the rest of us to shake off the tendencies to accept the mediocre and to reach for greatness. People are people and if they can set the example – then we can set the example – think of the 'tracks on the trail' that we will leave for others to follow. This is our 'Leadership Legacy' – our Leadership 'footprint'.

This week – if you feel like slacking up a bit – if it feels like things are crushing in on you – or the storms are hitting your trail – push on! In fact, pick up the pace, just a bit! Throw off the hooks that would seek to drag down or dampen your enthusiasm or resolve.

Leaders are charged with carrying the ingredients for fire on the trail. Where's your fire, today? This morning, to set the resolve for my team to complete a project, I was up and at it before 4 am. When I consult in the hurricane operation – there are few team members that will keep up with the pace that I set for myself. And for those of you that have worked with me and think the pace runs strong – my brother puts me to shame! His work ethic is always pushing me – inspiring me – stretching me in my mind to reach for another level.

The race is worth it – pour your heart and back into it! Set the example - If we are going to be in the race - let's always be real and let's be in it to win it!

Essential Items: Handling Criticism

2009-08-19T10:26:00.002-05:00

It's easy to stand on the sidelines and criticize. It doesn't take much to sit in your living room or in a control booth and "Armchair Quarterback" the decisions and actions of those in the race.

If I haven't said it out loud to someone – this is certainly how I've felt., " throw on the parka, build the team, qualify for the race, start running 1100 miles in -50⁰ F and then we'll talk."

A leader takes many hits and some of the most difficult to take are when those you are leading start criticizing your actions, your leadership, or your personhood.

In the studies that Goleman has conducted on EQ (Emotional Intelligence) the findings revealed that a leader's EQ is a greater predictor of their success than IQ. I believe it is a fairly easy result for us to buy into – after all, don't most of us know people who are incredibly book smart and yet lack the 'people skills' necessary to be a success – and I want to unpack that as it relates to handling criticism.

Emotional strength is critical in leadership – in my mind it is one of those essential items – it supports perseverance and is foundational to pulling us through the inevitable 'rough spots' on our leadership trail. When it comes to handling criticism – we have two choices – shut down and build the wall or process what's being said.

So let's walk through a few steps that may help put criticism in perspective:

It's going to happen
It is a fact of leadership that you are going to be criticized. It doesn't feel fair and it doesn't seem right – you're the one giving your guts for the company and the team and someone has the nerve to stand there and criticize! And you want to react and say, "If you can do a better job – be my guest!" Another fact is: if you don't want or can't handle criticism, don't be a leader! As the saying goes, "The only way to avoid criticism is to say nothing, attempt nothing, and ultimately, be nothing." Leaders are targets because we're out front and once we realize that criticism is part of being in this 'race' then we can learn to process it and use it for our growth or discard it.
Consider the Critic
Some people criticize out of pure motives and others have an agenda. There are a number of quotes that have served me well – "Hurting people, hurt people.", "Crabs will pull others down that try to get out of the basket", "You can tell a person by the words they speak". People will criticize because they aren't happy in life and don't want others to be either, because of jealousy, insecurity, or the desire to keep the status quo. Knowing the source will help you to know which to really consider and use for growth and which to moderate. If they have been in the race, mushed their own team, and have your respect – it's much easier to accept!
Consider the Critique
Consider that even though the source isn't credible there still may be some truth in their statements. Take the time to sift through all of the extra 'stuff' and get down to the real meat of the criticism. One of my mentors would say, "Eat the meat, spit out the bones!" We all have strengths and we all have weaknesses – if this falls into one of the areas of your weaknesses – then so be it! We all need to learn – we all need to grow – this is just lighting up a spot on the trail that you may not have seen before – or you may be in a place that you've never been before and you need this knowledge to be able to qualify for the next race ahead! No one is perfect – life and leadership are growth experiences!
Seek an outside, trusted perspective
If the criticism came from a trusted advisor, coach, or friend that we knew had our best interests at heart – we would take that in and grow accordingly. Start to find or build a network around you of those that you can present the information to and that will give you appropriate feedback. If they are unwilling or unable to be open, honest, AND supportive – you need to find new counsel. Use that as a guide – find people you can trust that will give you open, honest, and supportive counsel.
Grow where needed (E-valuate and E-volve)
Some people spend years developing their technical expertise or their educational advantage and somehow they think that 'Relational Skills' are a take it or leave it proposal – my team just needs to 'accept me as I am'. If the criticism centers on your relational connectivity as a leader – realize that you may need to spend as much time on your relational skill set (EQ) as you did on your IQ or TQ (Technical Competence). Where ever the area of growth – hunger for improvement and keep it in perspective – we ALL have areas where we need to grow.
Keep on mushing!
You've come too far to turn back now – don't allow nay-sayers and discouragers to keep you from your destiny – you started this race and you can finish it! You are on the trail to something great and when you get there – all of the little 'bumps and bruises' along the way will seem insignificant.

I believe in you – you can do this – let me leave you with a great quote from Fred Smith: "No one ever erected a statue to a critic."

Mush on!

Essential items

2009-08-17T14:05:00.002-05:00

Competitors in the Iditarod have mandatory items that must accompany them throughout the race - they are to be in the leader's possession - in their "sled" - for the duration of their "race".

This led me to think about some of the mandatory competencies that business leaders should possess. As leaders lead across so many different types of businesses – are there some commonalities that we can draw to say – these are the 'mandatory' items that can determine or affect a leader's success?

One of the top, in my mind, has to be perseverance.

Perseverance comes in many shapes, sizes and reasons – but however a leader gets there – it's crucial to their success.

Dogged determination (pun intended) can come through emotional strength, vision, passion – or just a simplistic hard headed stubbornness that says, "Over my dead body!"

In the midst of a challenging project that was outside of my normal expertise – I was reminded of a quote from Winston Churchill. It came from the unlikeliest of sources – but was right on time! The quote?

"Never, never, never, never give up."

It led me to remember another one of my Churchill favorites:

"The nose of the bulldog is slanted backwards so that it can continue to breathe without letting go!"

I started thinking about perseverance in my life and "paying the price" to succeed. There are so many that I meet that seem to be unwilling to pay the price of leadership or of their dream. Many things can be achieved with the simple will to succeed and the pre-determination to "pay the price."

So why do some make the choice and others don't? That's a mystery to me!

If it is your dream – your 'Destiny" – than how could you quit?

What motivates you to persevere when you want to quit? A parent or mentor's training? Belief in a higher purpose? Raw determination to prove nay-sayers wrong? Fear of financial lack or professional failure?

It's a true statement that necessity is a tremendous motivator. If failure is not an option – than it's only a matter of time until you succeed! And every setback only serves to push you to learn – to push you to change – to push you to improve.

I've said for years that if people think the drive in me that they see is strong or tough – they ought to be on the inside!

The work ethic that I learned from a football analogy is: Keep your head down and your feet moving…

Now – I would change that today to just say, "Keep your head up! And your feet moving…"

When it comes to paying the price, I have heard so many times from my mentor, John Maxwell, "Pay now, Play later" and "If you choose to play now and pay later – the cost will always be greater".

I, usually, put it into financial terms – the sacrifice and investment on the front end yields much greater rewards or dividends on the back end.

Paying the price means we don't quit after the first checkpoint, or the 5^th, or the 17^th – there are 20+ checkpoints – but at the end – our Burled Arch awaits and Success will come to those who simply don't quit – those who never, never, never, NEVER give up!

The Heart of my Leadership

2009-08-09T20:55:00.002-05:00

The reason I am drawn to use 'Iditarod' as a metaphor for leadership is that I love the story of what the race commemorates. It embodies a majority of how I approach life and business. It's one of the summary points in Chapter 9 of the book: "Life is lived best when it's lived for others."

In Late January, 1925, Dr. Curtis Welch had come to the realization that what he was facing a deadly outbreak of Diphtheria in the village of Nome, Alaska. Particularly hit hard were the young people and survival hinged on getting the serum. We'll pick the rest up from the introduction in the book:

Finally, - the only serum in Alaska was found.

Where? How many miles? His heart sunk. 1000 miles away? 1000 miles of frozen, Alaskan wilderness away.

The serum was in the care of Dr. J.B. Beeson at the Alaska Railroad Hospital in Anchorage!

How fast can it be transported? The usual method for transportation during the summer months was steamship, but the sea had iced in the town since October and it wouldn't thaw until June. What about planes? Would someone be so daring as to fly during these conditions and attempt the landing? The only two available planes had been disassembled and neither had ever flown in winter. The call for help reached the Governor and the request for an alternate route was approved. The Alaskan Railroad ferried the medicine more than 250 miles north to Nenana. But from that point on, the traveling was treacherous.

Just before Midnight, January 27, with the clock ticking, the serum and the survival of the town was transferred into the hands of rugged men and their teams of sled dogs who would race across some of the most brutal terrain and the harshest conditions that mother nature has to offer.

When the first musher left Nenana, the temperature reportedly hovered at 50 below zero. The volunteer mushers transferred this "Baton of Life" 18 times – until it reached the hands of Leonhard Seppala and his lead dog, Togo, considered by many to be the true heroes of the run. Together they covered the most hazardous stretch of the route, and carried the serum farther than any other team.

The twentieth and final transfer was made and, according to legend, the serum was nearly lost when a huge gust of wind toppled the sled of this final musher. The musher frantically dug the serum out of the snow with his bare hands, righted his sled and continued on. February 2 at 5:30 a.m., just five days and seven hours after leaving Nenana, the Norwegian Gunnar Kaasen and his lead dog Balto arrived on Front Street in Nome.

Salvation came through Courage, Skill, Teamwork, and Perseverance!

I would add to that – that salvation came to Nome because a group of people were willing to give – to sacrifice time out of their lives – and danger to their lives – for the sake of others.

Again, it's one of my life mottos and one of the legacy pieces that I want to leave as my mark on this earth – "He was a person that was a giver. He gave more than he received. He served others."

Can we end one week and start the next thinking about serving? Thinking about giving? Thinking about charity? Where can we add value this week?

"Life is lived best when it's lived for others."

Leaders need courage

2009-08-05T12:25:00.002-05:00

Whether you're facing down 1100 miles of frozen tundra, a hostile business climate, or even a 360 peer review – courage is critical.

In every leader's day to day there are times when we would prefer not to be as courageous as we need to be. We don't always want to face the challenges in front of us, admit weaknesses (or areas needing improvement) in our leadership skill set, or stare down adversity raging like a storm off the Bering Sea – but if we are to continue to be the leader – it's part of our job description.

Great Leaders understand that without risk there can be no reward.

There will always be risk – in business, in life, in Iditarod – Leaders know, understand and process this accordingly. It's not that leaders lack fear – the fear is still there – it's what you do with the fear and how you process it that makes the difference. Courage isn't an absence of fear. It's doing what you're afraid to do. It's pushing past the fear to a place of internal power - to leave the last checkpoint and 'Mush off the Map!' Think about it – if there were no fear – you wouldn't need courage..

I heard of a leader that illustrated this point by handing his people 3 pieces of paper with choices on them.

'Try and succeed'
'Try and potentially fail'
'Don't try and therefore never fail'

Leaders value action – and to 'not try' is not an option for us if we want to succeed. Courage is looking at all the options, regardless of how unpleasant, making the best decision at the time, and starting.

Remember: just because you start down a path – doesn't mean that you can't change – that you must stay on that path forever. If you start down a path and it's not working – see what needs to be changed and act on that, as well.

To increase your courage:

Do the homework. There is no substitute for having as much of the known knowledge as possible. Leaders need to make informed decisions and that comes from having the right information – the good and the bad.
Have open, honest discussions with rigorous debate about the appropriate course of action – when the mission or change is critical – this is not the time to hold back opinions – allow the debate to get spirited within the right boundaries.
Gain wise counsel. Counsel can come from many sources – but needs to come from the right sources. You can take information from many – but limit counsel to the right people.
Best Case / Worst Case. Play out both scenarios and weigh the cost of each – if you can live with the worst case – go for it!
Act – you have to act – you have to move and look for the very next logical step and take it! Then look for the next step and take it – before long you'll be moving in the direction of success. Remember – it's much easier to turn a moving sled than one that is stopped and anchored!
Evaluate – look back at this section in the RACE postings – evaluate at regular intervals and respond accordingly!

Fear will be present. As leaders we accept this. Criticism will always be present – we must accept this, too. If you weren't attempting something great – people would not have cause to criticize.

If I were beside you today – I would encourage you that you can succeed – walk it out step by step – checkpoint by checkpoint – you'll get there. And when you do – we'll have a drink in the lodge together and celebrate!

More on Moving ‘Anchors’ to ‘Racers’

2009-07-31T13:39:00.002-05:00

Leadership and connectedness is a process. It doesn't happen in a day – it happens every day.

I've said it so many times, it's almost become cliché – "Leaders go for the heart, Managers go for the hands." And along with that, "We Lead People, we manage things"

Are there any among us that woke up this morning with the thought, "I hope my boss manages me today!" or "If only my boss or spouse would just manage me more!"

Doesn't that just raise the hair on the back of your neck? People, as a general rule, have no desire to be "managed". They are built with that internal desire to be free and independent… yes we have some level of a herd mentality – and yes, some people do need more hands on attention than others – but that does not mean that the majority want us to "Manage" them.

What I have found in people is that they welcome caring counsel, or advise from a trusted source – they hunger to be inspired and for someone to live a true model in front of them. In fact, they will gladly follow the 'lead' of someone that meets that criteria!

In the 2000 Goleman study, it was discovered that 70% of Employees perception of their working climate was tied to their leader's Emotional or Relational Intelligence – their leader's ability to connect with them relationally. If 70% of their job satisfaction and motivation is tied to our ability as leaders to connect with them - beyond just "managing them" - how profound of an impact can it make when we as leaders grow our relational skill set? Or determine to connect more authentically with our people? I believe that we would have far more racers than anchors!

People will follow – bigger, better, further, and faster – when we connect with their hearts instead of just trying to leverage their hands – when we aim for their heart – we get commitment – when we aim for the hands – the best we can hope for is compliance. How much more will our people 'race' when their hearts and hands are committed and connected to the mission?

So, how do you connect and lead your team?

"When it comes to team leadership, you lead your people one person at a time."

Each person's needs vary in some way or another – they will view life and business just a little different than each coworker – and the more diligent we are at connecting with them as individuals with their unique nuances– the more influence we will have with each – and "Leadership is Influence"

Consistently, I ask leaders what business they are in – and after they reply – I suggest that their response may be their product – but as leaders – we are all in the "People" business.

Maybe, just maybe – if we learn our people and connect with our people – they will be inspired to give more. How can they not be? They will be more connected and, relationally, when we are more connected we feel more obligated to not let our friends down.

Have a great weekend!

Unleashing the power of the team… Gaining employee engagement

2009-07-28T08:03:00.003-05:00

As much as a leader is a 'commander' of people, he/she is, also, a servant of people. Engagement is not so much about commanding as it is connecting.

Bottom line(s): Valued, engaged people lead to Satisfied Customers and together, they will gladly and consistently contribute to a great BOTTOM LINE…

The Gallup Organization has consistently surveyed employees and businesses in the arena of engagement and the corresponding effects on the "Bottom Line". They divide employees into three areas that in 'Iditarod Leadership' are classified as: Racers, Loafers, and Anchors.

• Racers are between 25 and 30% of the average company. They are enthusiastic, committed, and run with passion and purpose. They feel deeply connected to your race! They consistently run at high performance levels and hunger to use their talents and strengths every day. They fuel creativity and move the sled forward.

• Loafers are roughly 50 to 55%. They are trotting through the days, content to 'go with the flow'. They are fairly neutral about the mission and the sled. They tend to take a "wait-and-see" attitude towards it all – sort of a, "if it looks like we may be in contention for something great – I may get excited – but until then I'll just punch the clock".

• Anchors can range from 15 to 20% on average. Sleds, normally, have anchors(or hooks) that keep the sled in place as you're lining up the team, but these folks are Anchors that actively dig in their heals as the rest of the team attempts to run. They, literally, drain the team of its energy and actively seek to spread their 'Rabid" discontent.

Gallup estimates that the 'Bottom Line' effect of 'Anchors' in 2006 cost the US economy about $328 Billion in lost productivity and the corresponding ripple effects.

So, how can we develop a team full of 'Racers' and 'Unleash the power of the team…'? Here are a few ideas to implement in your kennel for some immediate effects:

Clarity expectations – when dogs or people are unsure of their roles and expectations – they cannot race with their full strength. Learn to line out in simple language exactly what you want them to 'DO' and they will run faster.
Grow, Equip and Empower – Use training runs and growth exercises to teach them what they need to know , to stretch and grow them, and to equip them for the journey. When the time comes – set them free to run. The best days in a sled dogs life are when the musher says, "Hike" and takes away all hindrances to their running!
Leverage their Strengths – put them in the right spot on the team – where their personality and strengths will fit perfectly. When they are placed well – they will run well.
Be liberal with treats and 'Ataboys'. Is there anyone among us that won't pull harder when we know our efforts will be recognized or rewarded by our leader?
Connect on a personal level with them AND help them connect with the mission of the race – give them your heart and go for theirs. Once you know their heart, you'll be able to see where their heart aligns with the overall mission and you'll be able to help them connect and run with purpose.
Excellence and Contribution. We all want to know we are a part of something that is excellent – something of quality –AND that we have a valued contribution to that end. Set the standard for excellence on your team and when they contribute ideas – affirm their valuable input and seek to implement where possible. It will increase their self esteem and create bold and daring team members that pull voraciously.

As we serve, value, equip, and empower our teams – we will be astonished at the power that is unleashed and stretched as leaders as the sled starts to reach top speed!

Production and the bottom lines…

2009-07-24T07:14:00.002-05:00

As I said yesterday, there has to be a bottom line. Production is a basis for trust and respect. Trust and respect are the basis for influence – and Leadership IS Influence.

Without producing the goods or delivering the desired results our leadership won't last for long. Of all the roles that we discussed last week, the leader's greatest role – the one that set him or her apart – is producer. The traditional bottom line is profitability. At the end of the day, does your dream or business have a 'Net Income'? This is the, absolute, business bottom line and what I refer to as the 1^st bottom line. Will we be able to keep our doors open tomorrow?

Again, using the race as a model… at the end of the race - the mushers get a prize. This prize comes from a number of sources, including entrance fees, sponsors, etc. As the prize has increased, the level of competition has grown and the end result (the bottom line) is that mushers could now run this race as something that could produce income – not just a hobby. So the race needs sponsors and without fans, there are no sponsors.

Since my mind is, usually, digging deeper, I'm tying the metaphor to business and thinking… fans and sponsors are their 'Customers". In the race and in business, 'Satisfied Customers' are critical. This has to be a constant question, "Do we have satisfied customers?" If we don't have satisfied customers – we don't have revenue – if we don't have revenue we can't have net income! This becomes the 2^nd bottom line AND is directly tied to the success of the 1^st bottom line.

Now I'm left with, "We have customers. How are we going to deliver the desired results and keep them satisfied?"

The answer? Our people, our 'Team'.

We can't run the race alone and if we tried, I doubt anyone would wait around for us to attempt an 1100 mile foot race. Bottom line – this business race and your dream should be too big for you to attempt on your own! AND we can't lose sight of a profound truth:

"How you treat your people… Is how they will treat your Customers and take care of their orders"

Treat your people poorly and they will lack the motivation and desire to treat your customers any different. Their mindset will be, "they don't value me – why should I value you?" Further, if they are not valued or don't feel connected to a higher purpose in their journey, "Are they going to pull the sled with all their strength? Or enough to cover the bare minimum?" Bottom line # 3: we need valued, engaged team members, pulling with all of their heart and strength if we are going to satisfy our customers AND reach our 'Burled Arch'.

Whether you want to be influential within your company or impactful within your industry, unless you deliver the goods on a consistent basis – your impact will only go so far. The purpose for Iditarod Leadership and the reason for why I write and speak is to help you increase your impact – to help you produce the desired result AND to communicate that it doesn't have to come at the expense of relationship with our people and satisfied customers are critical.

Bottom line(s): Valued, engaged people lead to Satisfied Customers and together, they will gladly and consistently contribute to a great BOTTOM LINE…

The bottom line is that there are multiple bottom lines

2009-07-23T07:38:00.000-05:00

People run the race for different reasons. Some, initially, become interested in the race for the adventure and the challenge – sort of the ‘man (or woman) and beasts versus the wild’. The adrenaline of: “I could die or suffer extreme harm” has an incredible allure over the mundane of cubicles, time clocks and ‘TPS’ reports.

There are any number of analogies that I could draw here in reference to life and business: becoming an entrepreneur, leaving corporate life for the thrill of starting your own business, leaving the ‘rank and file’ to become a leader in your organization, or even living your hobby or dream outside of work. Whatever the analogy, there comes a time when we must face the ‘bottom line’.

For the past couple of weeks, I worked with a great group of guys with a dream and an incredible opportunity. This dream and opportunity is right in line with their passion to reach people and develop a great business that provides them with income. In the process, if they make it…. they could achieve social recognition and a degree of status among their peers and business leaders in their country. In the midst of it all, my continued council was, “Great! But it won’t happen on its own. You have to have a detailed plan. You have to focus on the bottom line. The status or success you will achieve is more of a by-product of a great business plan that is executed with diligence and purpose!”

And if I could say that to you… If we could meet in a coffee shop – somewhere around the world – or sit with legs folded and ‘break bread’ and talk as friends – my council would be the same. “Go for it! Live your dreams! I believe in you!” and then I would precede to (as a loving friend) ‘hammer’ on you about your business plan and all of the necessary things in order for you to succeed. I would tell you that it doesn’t all have to be lined out in perfection and down to every ‘i’ dotted and every ‘t’ crossed when you start. In fact, if you wait until everything is perfect – chances are – you will never start. However, if the dream is going to be realized – there has to be a ‘bottom line’.

For as long as I can remember, this has been drilled into me – after all – my degree is in Accounting. I can still hear the mantra being chanted, “Focus on the bottom line. Focus on the bottom line. Wall Street only focuses on the bottom line.”

Then… I came to a new understanding of what the bottom line means and it is part of the entire ‘Iditarod Leadership’ theme.

Think about the actual race. It has many components but I would like us to focus on the big picture: The race has competitors, fans and sponsors. In order to keep the race going – all 3 must be satisfied. We and our teams must be willing to be ‘in the race’, the fans have to enjoy the experience and the competition, and the sponsors need to have a return for their investment.

The bottom line… and the discussion for this week…. is that in the race AND in business … the BOTTOM LINE is that there are three bottom lines.

Stay in touch this week and next, we will unpack this powerful concept.

The ‘Adventure’ of Indonesia

2009-07-22T10:54:00.003-05:00

As many of you know, our 'Leadership Adventure' took us to Indonesia over the past 10 days or so, with a stop in California on the way to see my son, Zach, who is at Camp Pendleton. The word 'Adventure' is appropriate. Yesterday felt like I had been through quite a ride. It seems, at times, that everything only catches up to us when we finally stop or slow down!

It, usually, takes me a couple of days to shake off international travel and return to my routine stateside – but my heart is continually pulled back toward the blog and my connection with you that have chosen to join me on this adventure. I am a bit driven to share leadership principles every day and have a 'destiny' to add value to people Every Day – which leads me to shake it off and get back to posting blogs!! Thanks for your patience during the travel.

There are a number of blogs that are intense in my heart from the trip – adding to the thread started on the many roles we play as leaders, unpacking some leadership and life questions from discussions with Zach, and talking about a burning topic of the 'bottom line' of business.

However, I thought we could jump back in with just talking about the journey and maybe connecting on a more personal level, for today.

We started in California with a blaze of activity with Zach over July 4^th and the pride of having two sons serving their country during that patriotic weekend.

We expected to see the beauty of California, connect with Zach, ship a care package to his brother and then enjoy the beauty of California before heading out to business in Indonesia.

We received a call during that time that was a reminder that serving isn't for the weak and the fast realization that having sons serve the country meant their lives are, truly, on the line every day. Our oldest son, Josh, had come under attack and there were casualties in their unit. We went from being thankful that he made it – to empathetic and compassionate for the families that lost their sons.

Conversations about life, happiness, meaning, etc. ensued and all of the questions about what is true and lasting in this world (and the next) - all of the topics that transcend leadership of business into leadership in life and personal courage. (I know life isn't always easy and I am thankful, daily, for the gift of each day with those that are close to me. We have experienced loss of loved ones in the past year or so and know that many of you are facing your own trials and pains and our hearts are with you!)

From there – we had a few days to enjoy La Jolla and the beautiful coast, caught the flight, connected through Hong Kong and landed in Jakarta. Our main seminar was scheduled for the Ritz and the smaller subsequent meeting for the JW Marriott.

Long story short, there were a number of circumstances that transpired that caused us to change our accommodations just a couple of days before suicide bombers (that were staying one floor up from us) walked into the restaurant during breakfast and carried out their deadly attacks - one at the JW and one at the Ritz. We are fortunate to be alive… there are 5-6 different reasons why we should have been there that morning and only providence that we were not.

We spent the next several days in the home of a business partner, not knowing when or if the next attack would hit, while working to wrap up the training certifications that we had committed to complete. It was a couple of stressful days with long hours followed by 30+ hours of flying time coming home – not exactly the best representation for my wife's first time to accompany me on business!

Thanks so much for your prayers and support of me and my family!

I believe the people of Indonesia will overcome the evil that seeks to do it (and others) harm. The people I met were great – with a great hunger for leadership and excellence. We wish them all the best and will be back with them for more!

Long post for the first one back – if you want more on the bombings here's a link.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/channel/headlines

The post for tomorrow or later today is on the triple bottom line – one of my favorite discussions!!! Thanks for allowing me to add value to your leadership growth!

The Roles of a Leader

2009-07-14T00:29:00.002-05:00

The commitment to blog daily (weekdays) gets a little challenging when traveling (lol). I try to sleep and reset the body clock as fast as possible but it does not always work. For the next couple of weeks I will be in Indonesia training leaders for Giant Impact. Just over 2 days on the ground and it feels like we have been here for a week. We landed and spent the rest of Saturday in Jakarta and then Sunday afternoon and part of Monday in Bandung and then back to Jakarta. Beautiful places and great conversations with the partners of Imperium – watch for pics on facebook or twitpics…

My heart from last week (talking about team health), the 25+ hours of flying, and the conversations so far here is dwelling on the roles that we play as leaders. When talking about team health – there are many times that we are a team member (responsible for our own results) and then for the team we are coach, therapists, career counselor, strategist, visionary, motivator, teacher, mentor… and the list goes on. Balancing these roles can prove to be challenging and, at the same time, rewarding. At the base of it all, the foundation of our leadership is our character or integrity. I am convinced, now more than ever, that what our teams need is leaders that are inspirations to follow - leaders worthy of the people following.

On the trail to Nome and our 'Burled Arch', somewhere along the trail of 1100+ miles of our 'adventure' we are bound to meet ourselves. When that occurs, will we like what we find? We come face to face with who we are – not who we wish we were; who we ARE – not whom we tell others we are or our 'front'.

The dogs don't care much about pretense – they want to know that you are the real thing. The trail? It only allows those to pass after they have looked inside and come face to face with 'the man (or woman) in the mirror'. Today, can we stop and look in the mirror? Can we own the desire and make the tough choices that qualify our leadership as integrous?

Closing my thoughts today with a few poignant Fuller-isms and some I've picked up along the way:

"The character of a person is not made during tough times, it's revealed."

"We are all like sponges – what is truly in us when we are squeezed WILL come out."

"Respect is earned on difficult ground" (John C Maxwell)

"Character is easier kept than reclaimed"

And from a movie on the plane ride to Indonesia: "Sometimes a man can meet his own Destiny on a road he took to avoid it."

Relational Team Health

2009-07-08T13:24:00.002-05:00

Fewer things can break the will of a team to run more than relational dysfunction. Small problems that should be easily overcome or dismissed become impassible barriers and thin, fractured ice threatening the team's survival with every step.

Forget the competition – We're too busy fighting each other!

As the leader of the team, it is our responsibility to monitor their Relational Health, just as much as their physical health or operational results. Why? Because if it has not impacted operational results, it soon will. As leaders, we are in the people business and people can be messy. That's not meant to come across in a derogatory way – it just is. People have bad days or even bad weeks. If we are honest, WE have bad days/weeks. We won't hire or keep people that are overtly dysfunctional, but that's not always clear on the front end. When dysfunction manifests, it's our responsibility to address it for the sake of mental / emotional / psychological health of the entire team AND the sake of the mission.

Relational health can be broken down to the individual and the team as a unit. At times, we will need keen observation skills to detect any issues and at other times you wouldn't be able to miss them if you tried.

The team's relational health is reflected in their ability to (pick your favorite buzz word): Communicate, cooperate, collaborate, synergize, etc. It affects every aspect of the team, in that it is made up of the team's will to work with each other.

The term I use for Relational Health (or Relational Intelligence) is EQ. EQ is one of several terms that are used to describe this area of personal and vocational effectiveness. Just as IQ stands for Intellectual Quotient, EQ stand for Emotional Quotient.

EQ can be broken down into four areas: Self Awareness, Self Leadership, Social Awareness, and Relational Leadership.

In any relationship, our question sequence should be about self first, then the relationship. Am I AWARE of what's going on with me (what I'm thinking or feeling) that may be adversely affecting the situation? Can I, then, lead myself or 'manage' myself to a better place of connectivity? From personal leadership, then we should develop the skill to be able to recognize what is going on with our coworkers, beyond just the surface issues, and finally, lead the relationship in the best direction.

Easily said – not always easily done!

The roots of most relational dysfunction can be traced down to a number of issues: perspectives (Sunglasses), communication, trust and offenses. Somebody says or does something that is a trigger for someone else and the entire team can break away and run down false trails in an instant!

As we start in this area, begin to watch for body language and team dynamics. When you are conducting a meeting or just watching casual interaction within the team – be aware of peoples' body language. If someone starts to close off because of an offense – stop the process and start asking about their view of what just happened. Set the rules and start talking up the fact that you (as a team) need incredible Relational Health – if you are going to pull off your audacious goal – your "Burled Arch".

Just start bringing things to their attention and talking about relational harmony, ask their views and take their feedback into consideration.

Functional relationships in business are no different than functional personal relationships. You don't get to pick your birth family and, within some latitude, your people may not feel like they have a tremendous amount of control when it comes to their work cohorts, either. Working on this area and talking about it – can influence their feelings of power AND their commitment to the team as a unit!

***

I am in California this week, having spent time with my son who is in SOI at Camp Pendleton. We are working on some business opportunities here and then flying for a 2 week stay in Indonesia for Leadership sessions with companies there. Please keep us in your thoughts as we travel and we'll twitter, FB, and Blog about our Leadership adventures. Stay tuned!

Team Health is rarely on accident

2009-07-03T10:07:00.002-05:00

The formula for a great team is easy – be a great leader – have great people, a great plan, and great execution – sounds easy, right? Not so much….

We all make hiring mis-steps, we add team members that have great potential but they just don't pan out, team members will (from time to time) have personal or interpersonal issues, and sometimes the reasons are difficult to diagnose. Leading to the realization that Team health, like personal health is rarely on accident. It is a matter and a make of up many choices along the way that add up to the sum of the whole. Team Health and productivity is from purposeful, consistent, and intentional diligence.

Continuing from earlier this week…. We have a team that doesn't perform to expected levels, I have looked at my leadership areas and worked to correct any short falls there, and my team is still not producing expected results – where do I go from here?

From here, means that we look at the two parts of the team – the team as an entity, and the individuals that make up the team.

One of my consistent 'ISMs' is,

"To lead a team, you lead them one by one – beginning with you"

Earlier in the week we have dealt with the back part of that statement – 'beginning with you' – now we transition to the middle – we lead our team – ONE person at a time.

It's difficult to say which we look at first – because it's more of a both/and scenario – we look at our team and the dynamics of how they interact and operate AS A TEAM - but that is almost impossible to separate from looking at the individual players on the team and how they fit into the mix. Are they adding the right value? Running in their position right? Pulling their weight? Contributing to team synergy or detracting from it?

For the existing talent my questions are more along the line of: "Skill and Will". Does this player have the skills need for the position or role that I need them to play? Do they have the WILL to succeed in their role and with the team? (The right attitude)

The skill part is capacity – can they do what needs to be done in order to perform at the needed level. Will comes into commitment – "Will they do what needs to be done?"

Start with evaluating individual performance – in other words, "Let's look at what we can measure and put our hands on, first."

Dialing down on individual performance means metrics and measurements. Here are the actions that we are going to measure your performance on - and here is how we are going to measure those. Throw in timing (for good measure) and they have the clarity on when, what, and the how. Short of that and they may not have the needed tools or clarity from you.

For today, invest a little time on clarity of desired performance and if you don't have any, yet, developing an appropriate set of performance metrics. Boil this down to the clarity of, "What do I want you to do daily?" Let the person know you'll be monitoring performance (daily for a while). Follow through! How can we expect our people to be – what we are not.

Team Health always starts with the Team’s Leadership, pt2

2009-07-01T18:34:00.002-05:00

Yesterday we started the conversation about the Leader looking at himself or herself first, when it comes to analyzing team performance. Knowing that the team is usually a reflection of the Leader can be both sobering and affirming. Some additional questions to ask yourself about any potential negative or limiting effects that could be translating into less than desirable results are:

Is my team lacking direction? For a team to run at top speed, they will need clarity. Most of us would be, completely, unwilling to run at full speed while in total darkness and our teams are no exceptions. At times, stopping the team, increasing clarity, and establishing direction can tremendously boost speed and performance.

Have I over-driven my team? Even high performing teams are going to need a break. Pushing your team past the point of exhaustion too often can result in irreversible damage to physical stamina and mental focus. Knowing the right time to take a break is a mixture of intimately knowing both the team and the trail.

Knowing the team will clue you into them. Are they exhausted or just bored? Are they distracted? Does something have them spooked? Knowing the team will keep you from misinterpreting their energy or mental state.

Knowing the trail / terrain gives you valuable insight into where to push through and where to stop and rest. For instance, you may want to ask your team to continue on through a known difficult section before resting – that way when they are rested and fresh – they can run the next (easier) section with more energy and faster performance times. Again, knowing your team – gives you the insight to know if they prefer to push on through this area or prefer to be fresh and which choice will maximize productivity.

Is the sled overly burdensome? A team carrying twice the weight is unlikely to be the fastest. Saddle your team with a high degree of bureaucracy, regulation, emotional baggage, or wearisome corporate policies and watch the life drain from them. One of our greatest gifts that we can give to the team is to let them run with as little restriction as possible. The vast majority of players on the team want to run, they want to do the right thing and achieve the right results. Continuing to throw hurdles and obstacles in front of them will make the race more like a steeplechase than trail race! Look for ways to get out of your people's way and let them run!!!

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly:

Is the Team's attitude a reflection of mine? There is a very pointed dialog in the movie Remember the Titans, when one of the football players pushes back on the captain by saying, "Attitude reflects Leadership, Captain.

As leaders, our attitude and even our body language can transmit to the team. The "vibe" they get from us can either be contagious (if it's good) or infectious (if it's bad). Our team is, almost always, a reflection of our stress level, our relational interaction, and our attitude. Nothing can poison the team's will to run like a leader with a poor attitude or negative mind set.

As I've said before, none of our talks on how to make the team's performance better is meant to knock you down or depress you. My heart is to help call some of these things to your attention – so that you become response-able. Your team's performance is within your realm to inspire and improve! Goodness knows, I've not always been as good of a leader as I am today – and there are days that I still drop the ball for my team – but that's leadership – we are human – we're not going to get it right every time.

That's why, "Great Leader's strive for Excellence, not Perfection!"

Team Health always starts with the Team’s Leadership

2009-06-30T23:28:00.002-05:00

If, as my mentor John C Maxwell quotes, "Everything rises and falls on Leadership" then I have to accept that wherever the team's health is today can be attributed to leadership decisions of the past and their health tomorrow rests on the leadership decisions of today. So my first question when attempting to diagnose the reason behind a team's health (or performance) issue is, "Am I the problem?"

We'll mush through part one of the questions that I take in the discovery process today and cover the second part tomorrow:

Is there something that my team has needed that I have not provided?

This can be detailed into many different sub-categories such as financial provision, training, empowerment, opportunity to provide feedback, and even to my interpersonal responsibilities of affirmation and connectivity. So I walk down more detailed questions:

Have I built my team strategically? Teams that are built with purpose and players that are placed with purpose (with the insight of interpersonal team dynamics) are much less likely to fight 'Team Health' issues. Creating a team full of superstar, individual performers may prove to be no match for a good, cohesive team. The superstars may spend so much time fighting each other or fighting for the limelight that they fail to remember the mission and the PURPOSE behind the race.

Have I trained my team for the journey? A rag-tag, undisciplined, untrained team usually only wins in fairytales and children's movies. Sled Dog teams are trained canine athletes – that are trained just like any other top tier athlete in the world. If they have not been trained for the situation – we cannot expect them to perform at the professional level. One of my favorite sayings is, "Amateurs practice until they get it right, professional practice until they can't get it wrong!"

Have I invested the time to create team synergy and buy-in? We can't, always, operate a team that we have a long and purposeful relationship with but, over a period of time, we can't neglect the immensely important factor of relationship and buy-in. When they buy-in to you and when they buy into each other – they buy into the race and will run with greater purpose, greater commitment. We'll unpack more on Buy-in in a latter blog.

Have I empowered my team? Nothing frustrates and de-motivates a team of highly trained, highly capable athletes more than an insecure leader that either tight-reigns the team or won't set them free to run with the liberating communiqué of, "Hike!"

Have I resourced my team? The team is going to need to eat – to feed on the right fuel physically, mentally, emotionally and they are going to need the right equipment. Malnourished dogs can't run – and it they don't have the right footwear or outerwear they are going to suffer injury or hypothermia and the race will be over!

Questions can be painful – but they can also be insightful and beneficial to leading us to a higher level of performance and achievement!

Here's to team health – that starts with looking at us, as leaders, first!

Team Health

2009-06-29T23:02:00.004-05:00

Overcoming obstacles and facing down the storms is mission critical for successful teams. However, not all teams are successful and many are downright sickly. It is one of the musher's top priorities to create and maintain a healthy team.

In Chapter 6 of IDITAROD LEADERSHIP, there is a female, professional musher(Lizzie) that is giving instruction to the novice mushers and going through a time of Q&A. The exchange picks up with Lizzie answering a question around team performance. She responds:

“Adjustments with me and/or my plan are going to relate to conditions on the trail such as bad weather, is the trail icy or snow covered, or even is there a lack of snow. In recent years, we’ve had a lack of snow in some parts of the trail. The condition of the team, also, impacts the strategy. Some dogs might be fighting illness, do I need to drop them? Are there dogs not pulling their weight or who are causing problems with the other dog? Is another competitor pushing me? If you have any of these conditions and you don’t evolve your plan of action, you won’t win. Pure and simple. In some cases, you may not even finish the race.

Now my interest was piqued(Michael thought) and so he asked, “So, wait a minute. Is it hard for you to drop a dog?”

Lizzie replied, “Make no mistake about it, I love my dogs. I’m committed to my team. But if a dog’s not performing or it’s in their best interest health-wise to drop them, I have to drop them. I’m not willing to sacrifice the rest of the team, or the race, for one dog. I have to make the hard decisions and it’s just a part of mushing.”

This exchange leads the discussion to Team health and it’s many different areas. Is it the team? Is it players within the team? Is it team dynamics? Does it relate to the Mental, Physical, or operational components of the team?

If your team pulled into a checkpoint and were, immediately, evaluated for their health – where would the negative reports come from? What would be positive?

Underperforming teams come in many shapes and sizes. If your team falls into this category – are you aware of the why? It may be easy to see the symptoms, easy to look at the numbers and tell the team they are not measuring up, but do we know why?

The position of the Musher (being behind the team) is an incredible place to monitor the health of the team. From their vantage point they should be able to discern, not only the effect, but the cause. Discernment becomes a key leadership competency.

Is the team lazy? Are the mentally fatigued? Are they undertrained or improperly trained to handle the conditions of the race you're in today? Is the team in complete disarray? Are they resistant to your leadership? Or are they simply bored and lack purposeful motivation.

I would like you take some time to just consider you team - have you thought about their health? I know (or at least hope) you've looked at the performance numbers, but if the performance numbers are not where they are supposed to be – how do we trail back to the causes of the less than desired results?

This week we unpack the health of the team and work to increase your skills of discernment, care taker, veterinarian, and finally, performance coach. It's going to be a great week.

The Psychological Power of overcoming

2009-06-26T21:11:00.002-05:00

Whatever you yield to – is what you give power to… Yield to the obstacle or difficult situation and you give power to it – stare it down and overcome it and the power becomes yours – not just for the day – but for your entire future – it is a stake in the ground that you will continuously point back to and say – on such and such date – in this situation – I faced down the giant and I won.

Every situation builds on the previous. Failure and defeat can lead to more of the same – every time you give in – you shrink – every time you endure or conquer – you grow!

In the historical Chronicles of the leaders of Israel, as well as children folklore – they tell the story of David. You have probably heard the tale of David killing Goliath. This Teen had the courage to take on someone purported to be towering over all other men in the Israeli Army – and was not even being confronted by the King. What gave David the courage to confront this enemy?

David was a mere shepherd boy – a kid who watched his family's sheep. What did he know about being a warrior?

What he knew – was how he grew!

While watching the sheep – a lion approached the herd to kill and eat a sheep. David confronted the situation, grabbed his sling, put in a rock and flung it directly at the Lion. The rock hit the target and the Lion was defeated. At another point – a bear attacks in a similar manner and David – growing from the situation of overcoming the Lion – leaned on that victory and defeated this Bear. So when faced with this Giant (Goliath) – David had grown to the point of being able to point back to previous (lesser) successes and say with all confidence – I defeated the Lion, I defeated the Bear – this is just another similar adversary – that will fall to the ground. And just like what we talked about earlier this week – he faced the storm. In fact, the records say that he ran TOWARD Goliath.

The rest (as Paul Harvey would say) is history…

Step by step – one obstacle at a time – feed your inner power – feed your inner energy and face down the obstacles and enemies.

What gave Lance Mackey (3 time Iditarod winner) the courage to overcome his obstacles? What gave Dee Dee Jonrowe courage? What gave Lance Armstrong power? They overcame disease and the rest could seem like child's play.

What do you need to face? What can we help you face? You need to overcome this obstacle – face down this enemy – because it's not just an enemy of your path – your race – your day –it's an enemy of your future – an enemy of your soul!

Fight the good fight – stay in the battle – kick this obstacle in the teeth – and stand with those that have slain Giants in the process!

Turning on the light

2009-06-25T23:09:00.002-05:00

When you're running the race and darkness has closed in around your sled – you can stay on the sled and worry about the darkness, think about the darkness, talk about the darkness – or you can turn on the light!

When running the race at night, mushers will turn on their headlamp. It allows them to see things they would not otherwise see AND allows others on the trail to know they are there. In business, part of moving from fear to persevere is to move things from the unknown to the known. This process is "turning on the light" where there are only shadows and where fear or discouragement is running high.

When fear and uncertainty grip us, we need to move as quickly as possible to unraveling the mystery and revealing the trail conditions. As leaders, this process is rarely pleasant, but it's our sled, our team and our responsibility.

When moving to turn the light on a "dark situation" pull over to a checkpoint or create a camp site and walk through the following:

Look for the 'You are here' circle on the map.

Assemble the team and list out all knowns on a white board. This is probably not the time for the timid to hold their peace. From a personality stand point, those with the greatest knowledge through analysis are, also, usually introverted and may dislike confrontation. This means that you are going to need to give them permission to be rigorously honest and work to draw the information from them. Use communication that lets them know that their honesty and communication are vital to save the team from harm and they are not hurting the team – but may be providing life-saving information.

Don't "Beat the dogs"

Reacting negatively or exploding on the team as they are giving you vital but unpleasant information will only serve to hurt you long term. The rest of the team will certainly withhold their opinions and the next time there is negative information they will let you take the hit, instead of being beaten for trying to help you.

List out the trail choices.

With the help of your team, run through all the possible scenarios (trails), follow each to their natural conclusions, consider best and worst case.

MUSH!

Pick the best trail, given the existing knowledge and start running. If you stay put, you'll freeze to death. If you choose a wrong path, but you start soon enough, you will discover the error and make the needed correction! And if you get it right – you've saved valuable time and options. Problems rarely work themselves out and delaying decisions only limits the options. Great leaders make decisions timely and change them quickly if need be. Mediocre leaders change their decisions so slowly, they reduce their probability for success.

OWN the choice.

You are responsible for your life and your team. What that means is that you are Response-able. You are Able to Respond to whatever the situation is and work to yield the best results possible. When I say you're responsible – I'm not discussing whose FAULT the situation is – only that you have the power, the ability to respond in that situation to work and move to the best possible outcome!

Be open, honest, collaborative, and empowered. When the storms hit (when, not if) we have more safety in numbers…As the Proverb goes, ".. in the counsel of many, a ruler's throne is made secure"

Turn on the light! You are Response-Able!

Owning the right perspectives on problems and obstacles

2009-06-24T22:18:00.003-05:00

No one can affect your thoughts on a situation or event, unless you let them…

So now we are to the "How?" question. If the problems and obstacles are there to help separate the tenacious competitors from the casual competitors, how do we own the right mindset?

1. Check the mindset

When you are in the middle of a battle, pause and ask yourself "what am I thinking about this situation?". It seems silly to ask you to do this – but the purpose of the exercise is to give you momentary pause to "check your thoughts". It will interrupt your thinking about the situation and allow you to think about your thinking. What am I thinking? Are they the right thoughts?

2. Keep the sled light

Keeping the sled "light" means I don't pile other events on my sled. The times that I have the most trouble with my "mental game" is when I find myself connecting unrelated events. I have an obstacle or fail to meet an intended result and I, immediately, start to fight thoughts that tie every other failure in my life to this situation. This situation is THIS situation. If the thoughts attempt to spiral you into rehearsing of all previous failures and short comings, try to arrest the process – STOP THE RUN AWAY SLED!!!!

IF (and it's a big if) you discover through looking at the situation that there are some bad patterns or choices that do connect some dots – then work to identify the pattern. That's it – Identify the pattern and work to correct that pattern. Your "lot in life" is not to ALWAYS be the losing sled. Start owning the mindset that you can win – even if you've never won before – there is always a first!

3. Evolve

If you remember, the Evolve stage is where we look at the lessons learned, understand the needed course corrections and immediately work to implement the changes into our daily running. John C Maxwell has an incredible book called Failing Forward and it is, absolutely, recommended reading. One of the take-aways from this book is that when people fail – they usually forget the lesson that they should have learned and hold onto the emotional pain of the failure. He goes on to counsel that we should forget the emotional hit from the failure and work to remember what the failure will teach us. This has led to an internal mantra for me that echoes – "Learn the lesson – forget the pain"

This doesn't mean that we don't remember the hit – we just don't allow it to become emotional baggage that weighs us down – remember point # 2 – keep the sled light! I am a firm believer in pain being one of the chief teachers in life – we want to avoid the pain – so we don't do whatever action caused us the pain last time. It doesn't mean we choose not to race again – it means we improve – we get better and we try not to make the same mistake twice.

4. The Champion's mindset

What would the top competitors be thinking in this same situation? In order to change the outcome – we have to change our action. In order to change our actions – we have to change our thoughts and beliefs.

Consistently asking yourself, "What would the best leaders think and do in this situation?" can lead you to an elevated thinking, action and outcome.

But the first step is to take ownership of this area (your thoughts are your thoughts) and a thought cannot be removed – it can only be replaced with another thought. Whether that thought is good or whether that thought is self-defeating is up to you.

Choose with me to "Own" the winning mindset today!

What is your belief about obstacles and problems?

2009-06-23T22:33:00.004-05:00

What makes one team quit, only seems to inspire another…

Another excerpt from that same interchange that we started in yesterday's blog (Joe is continuing the conversation with Michael):

"One year on the trail, we had a blizzard come in. I couldn't even see to the front of my team dogs. I stopped them and created places where they could at least have some break from the blowing snow, and then I did what my father had taught me. I knelt down in the snow and I faced the storm."

"You didn't turn your back to the storm?" Michael inquired.

"No! Joe responded emphatically, "You must turn your face to the storm. In this position, it causes the snow to blow around you and pile up behind you. It forms a mound that you can then dig into and create a shelter. You can hollow it out, like a miniature igloo, and last for a couple of days.

"If you turn your back to the storms, you will be covered and most likely die. But facing the storms creates a place of refuge.

What do you teach business people? Don't you teach people some of these things?"

My mind immediately went to a large framed picture that I had heard hangs in the boardroom of a Fortune 500 company. The sign reads,

"PROBLEMS ARE MONEY. SOLVE THE PROBLEMS, AND YOU GET THE MONEY."

I rode the rest of the night with my weight on the left runner. I was drenched and half frozen but thankful for Joe's support in bolstering the mindset that I could overcome what seemed to be relentless and overwhelming problems.

I thought often over the next 30 miles about Lance Mackey. He had gone through throat cancer, had a good chunk of his throat cut out, had lost part of his saliva glands and had to carry a water bottle just to keep his throat moist. Only three years later, in the 2007 race, he went 200 miles on a broken runner and WON!

This year in the Iditarod storms were predicted to hit the trail hard. One of the mushers remarked that he hoped it to be true. He said the strength of his team was to run in impossible conditions that would make other teams quit. Conditions of a severe blowing wind pushing the temperature to -50 F below would give him a competitive edge.

Can we learn to own that mentality? That problems and adversity only serve to differentiate the weak from the strong – that we need to "face the storm" if we are to survive…

There are many storms in business that we are facing right now. Embrace that they will only serve to separate you from the competition and that it is only on difficult ground that are reputations are made and our respect earned.

Problems are not problems – problems are opportunities disguised as discouragement.

Run the race – Face it down – Overcome!

Obstacles, perseverance, and perspective

2009-06-22T21:31:00.002-05:00

We'll start this week a little late – it's been a day of travel, re-connection, and synergy with my partners in Leadership at Giant Impact. A great group with great hearts who's "Burled Arch" is to Impact the hearts and minds of leaders. The day is ending in Augusta, Georgia as I finalize preparations for tomorrow's session.

On my heart tonight and for this week is the next logical step from last week – meaning that, inevitably, at some of the checkpoint times when we 'E-valuate' we're going to fall short. There will be times when the path is difficult and we'll need to handle obstacles or the performance didn't deliver desired results and we'll process the failure.

Iditarod Leadership is written in Business Fiction or Business Parable style and is meant to convey business truths that I've learned over the years through events that occur as a business consultant is on an Alaskan adventure, where he learns to mush a team of dogs. He and fellow executives end their journey by competing in a 3 day race and one chapter deals with this topic of challenges, problems, and obstacles. To get us started for the week I thought I would throw in a teaser and give an excerpt from and exchange in the book between the main character (Michael) and his mushing guide (Joe):

The second day proved to be some of the most challenging of my life. Problems and personal adversity seem to be lurking around every corner. Sometimes I feel like it is trite to use the phrase, "what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger," and yet I'm finding myself using that to keep me moving forward.We went through over Gus Pass and down through Rondy Falls. Rondy Falls is a steep descent that has several drop downs. There could not have been a worse position to be running than last going through Rondy Falls. The other sleds in front of us – all with Novice mushers had proven to be brutal on the condition of the trail. The steep decent had caused everyone to stand on their brakes hard and caused ruts in the snow and ice that were 8 – 10" deep in places. On the last step down a hinge on my break came loose, throwing my right runner against the wall of the rut. My stomach twisted as I heard a crack.

As soon as was safe, I parked the team to look at the damage. My right runner was broken.

I felt like I was the guy on the side walk that had just been drenched by a car driving through a puddle as the snow started to alternate into a miserable freezing rain.

How do they do it? How do they make 1100 miles? I'm struggling after 2 days – they last 10 days over worse terrain.

Did I really expect this to be easy and sail through this without having challenges?

Did my early win exempt me from any of this?

Just as I was teetering on throwing in the towel, Joe stepped in.

"So what?"

"What do you mean so what?" I shot back.

"So what? – it's cold – it's hard – you broke a runner – so what?" Joe said as if it was insignificant. "You teach people about business, right? Aren't their problems in business"

"We have a saying out here that frustration comes from your expectations. If you expected to run a race and be problem free – you're going to be frustrated. This is how racing is – this is how life is – you face problems."

The question is more about our perspectives and our will to persevere and we'll unpack both this week.

E-valuate and E-volve

2009-06-19T09:42:00.003-05:00

"Experience is not the greatest teacher – evaluated experience is the greatest teacher. "

This simple saying has echoed in my mind since I heard it from my mentor, John Maxwell. I have broadcast it to many audiences around the planet and, yet, I am still passionate about the concept. We have to get better. We have to improve performance, daily, where possible.

Finally, for the R.A.C.E. model, the E stands for Evolve. If we fail to evolve, if we fail to change, if we fail to adapt, we will die. It happens in creation, it happens in careers, and it happens on the trail.

"No strategic plan survives the battlefield."

The goal of the race should be to finish the race – to reach your 'Burled Arch'- in the best place possible NOT to have finished the race with your plan intact. There is a balance between – stick to the plan at all costs AND the plan is just a piece of paper (a guide or suggestion). The plan has to be solid and everyone on your team needs to know that this is the plan, "This is the way that we are going to run AND where the plan is not succeeding we will evaluate and see if it is right to 'E-volve' the plan." As the leader, you get to make that call – what needs to evolve now and what do we believe will yield results if we continue on the same process (or trail) for a little longer. This is where your 'Evaluated Experience' from the past comes in. The leaders with the most 'evaluated experience' are going to know what to change and what to stick to. Rookie mushers: you and your team are going to pay the dues for your 'on-the-trail' leadership education (we all do! – and my heart in consulting, writing the book, and in this blog is to help – just because you have to learn the lessons doesn't mean they have to be YOUR mistakes – learn from others!)

OK – so HOW do we E-valuate and E-volve?

At the Checkpoints (Have a meeting just for lessons learned)

Evaluate the plan…

What went right? What went wrong? Why did it go right / wrong? Where did the plan fall short? Where were circumstances different on the trail than we thought? What misconceptions did we have about our competition? Or what did we see others do that could be a 'better practice'?

Evaluate the team…

Where did WE fail to implement the plan? Did I team the right dogs together? What did individual performances look like and why? Is everyone on the team still engaged? Do I have Buy-In or a Buy-in problem? (Team Culture suggestion: have this as an open discussion with the team and allow a peer / team review – Safe peer review – no biting LOL)

Lessons learned (for now or later?)…

What do we do different for the next stretch of trail? What do we record to change for next year's race through the same section we just went through? What are we going to do differently that will yield a BETTER result? (not just a different result)

Implement…

The value in the Evolve stage is where you look at the information you learned at the Checkpoints, you evaluate your experiences AND you implement them – you, immediately, put it to use in your daily running. If nothing changes – we just had a nice mental exercise. To help with change – get the teams commitment to holding each other positively accountable for the behavior and performance changes and add that to the list of evaluations at the next checkpoint.

Wrap up for the week:

R- Ready

A- Action

C- Checkpoints

E- Evolve

RACE to win AND enjoy the journey!

Checkpoints: Keys to Achieving the Dream

2009-06-18T16:26:00.002-05:00

There's no good way to sell a team or yourself on running 1100 miles. On the other end of the spectrum – if you're just going to the corner market – you don't need a tremendous team OR strategic planning.

"The C in R.A.C.E. stands for Checkpoints."

Being able to break down an incredible vision, mission or even a project into goals, steps, and processes is a key competence for a leader that gets things done. Benchmarks and checkpoints along the way allow us to measure our progress and make needed corrections early enough to 'stay on course'. Again, you may or may not know, there are 20+ checkpoints in the Iditarod and all serve a purpose on the way to achieving the dream. For each segment, the terrain is different and that piece of the journey can stand on its own. String enough of them together and you've done it!

For those that recall the HAB 22 model vision execution model, the B 22 stands for Break the vision down – break it into 22 pieces, if you have to. So, it helps when we break up our vision or dream into 20+ segments (training runs). The reason I like calling it training runs is that it needs to be broken down into its' simplest form – simple enough for your team to run with it. There is a reason relay races are run with a baton and not a shopping cart! Simplicity increases speed and at each handoff – you can evaluate your progress.

Practical thoughts in creating checkpoints:

Constantly be thinking next logical step (see yesterday's post)
Consider time as an element (we could run the race over 3 months – but everyone will have gone home!)
Consider your resources (Resources are not finite and we need to know what we need to do in order to get more – so that we can continue the race)
Employ 'A before Q' thinking (when thinking in steps consider which comes before what and work to make sure we keep dogs before sleds – or A before Q)
When will you and the team rest / recreate? (At some point we need rest in order to complete the marathon. It is not practical nor healthy to build your plan around all members of the team running until they burn out. Giving the team time to rest and regenerate will produce the best results in the long run.)
What will you eat for nourishment along the way? (feeding the team physically, mentally, and emotionally are critical)
What will you be judged on? (In order to finish you need to stay in the race – if your boss, board of directors, bankers, or family have criteria that need to be met along the way – meet those! This is Iditarod Leadership – doing life and business for the long haul!)
Keep Score (tying in with #7 – in order for us to know where we are, what progress we've made, where we are in our race, where we stand in relation to our competition, being able to evaluate present performance against prior and desired performance)

At each Checkpoint, or at the end of each segment, so that you can run the race next time better, you have to take the Checkpoint to evaluate your experience over that terrain, and Evolve. Evolve is the last component in Race and that is tomorrow's topic.

Without Action there is no R.A.C.E…

2009-06-17T12:36:00.002-05:00

"Good things come to those who wait" – but wait long enough and your dreams will pass you by and be experienced by the man or woman of action!

This is the part where we work the plan and we get the team members doing their part. In my teams, I emphasize simplicity and Action. Without Action, we're just thoughts, without simplicity, it will never get out of the kennel. The best race strategy left in the lodge and not implemented is always trumped by a margin strategy implemented to the fullest.

Your TEAM needs simplicity AND they need a job to do – they are the happiest when they have a job to do and they are allowed to do it without a lot of interference. It's dogs before sled, not sled before dogs. It's simplicity and Action. I had a mentor a long time ago tell me, "I'm not judging you on your intentions or your efforts, I'm judging you on your outcome." I thought it was hard at the time, but it has served me extremely well over the years.

For years, I have encouraged leaders that it's time we put 'Execute' back into Executives. Wall Street doesn't pay for intention – the pay for Action and Results – for Execution. I Love what Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan say about 'Execution' – that Leaders don't fail for lack of vision – they fail for not executing the vision that they have. Fire, Ready, Aim doesn't work – but neither does Ready, Ready, Ready…..

All of us have things and/or pieces of our dreams that we don't know how to bring to pass – that's natural. If we could bring it to pass, completely on our own, it might be too small of a vision. The success lies in taking the next known step – thinking in processes and asking yourself, "What would a successful person do in this situation? What is the next step they might take?" Then take that next step – evaluate whether you are closer to your vision or farther away and act accordingly. The key is action! It's classic success principles, "Who – does what – by when"

Two things that I consistently remind myself:

• "Start" what needs to be started

• Finish what I start

"Don't just be a hearer or thinker – be a doer – act on what you know to do!"

Lewis & Clark remarking about their expedition said, "We didn't always know the entirety, but inevitably someone on the team knew the NEXT thing we needed to do."

Today's thought: What's the next thing? Not then next 10 things – the NEXT thing – let's do that thing and not get locked up! Don't fear failure – fear being paralyzed by fear!

"Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

R – Let’s get Race Ready!

2009-06-16T10:31:00.002-05:00

Leaders (Mushers) in the Iditarod Race have to plan and prepare months in advance of the race. For most, they may take a few weeks or month off and then they are right back planning next year’s race.

Thinking, planning, preparing constantly – this race becomes as much an addiction as an adventure or business. For many of us in business, could we not say the same?

In the minds of mushers are many components as they think about the upcoming season: Who will my leaders be? Does my kennel have a deep enough bench strength? Can I be more strategic about where we pushed it and where we rested? Where was my team stronger / weaker? How can I make my team stronger? What training can I do in advance of the race to prepare them better? Do I have them on the right ‘diet’? Is there a way I can become more competitive with Lance?

Weeks and sometimes months in advance they have to compile and ship supplies and resources to the 20+ checkpoints throughout the race course. Food, dry clothing, and everything else under the sun that is needed to run this grueling race. Lack preparation and ‘Readiness’ on the Iditarod Trail and you’re likely to die or be so frost bitten that you’ll lose a part(s) of your body. (Not to mention what you’ll be putting your team through) If we are going to succeed in this business era of limited resources and global struggle, then the team that takes the time to get it right on the front end and executes well is going to survive.

For those that like my HAB 22 model (see 5/11 – 5/15 posts) the RACE strategy is very similar. For those that may not have seen HABB 22, it basically says we start with H (Having a vision), A (ABC simplicity), B 22 (Break it down into components and stages/ checkpoints). For the R in race we bridging all of the components in that we are thinking about them and strategizing each step.

So what lessons can we learn from them and how can we improve our strategy development?

1. Simple Clarity

Simple questions like: who or what are we? What business are we in? What do we want to achieve? What is our market niche? What are our Team Dynamics? How much do we know about our market/industry?

2. Supplies

What will we need for the journey? (Resources), When will we need them? How do we get them?

3. Team Dynamics

Who will we need? Do we have them? How will we get the players we need? What should our race strategy be – given the team we have and leveraging their present strengths/capabilities?

4. Weather conditions

What’s going on outside of use that can affect our race? Competition? Advances in Sled Technology? Capital Markets? Impending climate changes? Storms? Etc.

While this just scratches the surface of the ‘Race Ready’ strategy, it will get us started on the journey! Take the time to get ready – remember it’s: Ready, Aim, then Fire!

Developing a ‘RACE’ Ready Strategy

2009-06-15T08:43:00.003-05:00

Successful outcomes rarely occur on accident or by chance. For the vast majority of time, given an equal field of players, the team with the best coach / leader / musher is going to win. Being the best coach / leader / musher starts with your strategy.

Like it or not, as the leader, you are the 'Head' of your team. As the head, there are many things you can delegate to your team. I am a believer in the leader handling those things ONLY the leader can handle and mentoring your team to perform the rest – not out of a sense or intention to 'lighten' your load but to enable you as the leader to prepare for the next level of growth, performance, achievement and problem resolution. Strategy is an area that I believe you need to own. Your team is counting on you to 'Know the way, Show the way, and Go the way.'

You may say, "Strategy is not my strength – implementation is my strength." Great! Now spend time developing your skill as a strategist – your people need to believe that you 'Know the way'. It lets them run free and hard. They can run free because their minds are not cluttered with doubt over is this the right direction and with surety (confidence) they can run hard.

I am not suggesting that you create your strategy in a vacuum – that you come down from your Ivory Tower with the predetermined strategy and hand it to your team as if it were the 10 Commandments.

Strategy involves multiple aspects and the best results come from you AND the team. Remember, there are 2 sure-fire ways to fail – Take council from Nobody and Take council from Everybody.

To help Leaders grow and/or gain clarity with strategy, I built into the book and training, "When Running to win remember to use the "RACE' Strategy."

R – Ready

A – Action

C – Checkpoints

E – Evolve

This week we're going to take a deeper dive each day with these components, but for today here's the thought:

How good am I at strategy? Am I good at filtering out the wrong things to do – so I can gain clarity about the right things to go? Have I done the work, yet, to know my team so I know the right strategy for my team?

I know it's Monday – your sled is full and the race may have started hot and heavy this morning – so shorter post from me. I enjoy being a part of your journey and adding value to your team – shoot me an email, I'm glad to help! RACE on!

Confronting wrong beliefs and behaviors

2009-06-12T11:05:00.003-05:00

Dogs don't know what they did wrong yesterday!

As Leaders we must be vigilant about our culture and when changes are needed or confrontation over beliefs or behaviors needs to occur – they need to occur as close to the behavior as possible – this is not a once a year employee review type thing.

Most people have difficulty when it comes to confrontations. When it comes to confronting beliefs it can seem even more so. They refuse to confront something immediately and allow it to build and fester until it or they blow up. They use anger as a method for emotional strength to deal with something that should have been dealt with all through the year and not just at the review. (As you can tell – I'm not a fan of the yearly review)

Without discussing the pro's and con's of social plurality, let me just say when it comes to business teams – we can't have 16 dogs pulling in 16 different directions – or even 2. We need everyone pulling in one direction – one purpose, one goal, one team.

To that end (our 'Burled Arch') we are going to need to solidify a unified, positive and purposeful culture (again – beliefs and behaviors). To gain this focus – it's just a fact that not every belief and behavior is going to line up and that we're going to need to discuss this with the individual team member(s).

So how do we do it:

Understand the specifics of where we believe they are off the trail.
Take the mindset that most people have honest intentions
Ask them to talk about their lens (belief/perspective) on that particular issue.
Help them back on the trail

When you seek first to be very specific about the issues, to get their perspective and to give people the benefit of the doubt - it helps keep the confrontation on topic. Many people view correction or confrontation as an assault or a rejection of them as a person. This immediately backs that team member into a corner and we can all see the picture of a cornered dog, right? For self preservation they will almost always come out fight for self preservation.

For years I've taught on using the 'sandwich method' for confrontation – where you affirm the person (bread), deal with the issue (meat), affirm the person, their contribution / value (bread) and set points of accountability and clarity around future behavior.

For most team members – your sharing your lens and the desired lens of the future will be enough will be enough for them to see a different perspective and start the change process. If a team member continues to engage in divisive behaviors or continues to hold onto beliefs that are contrary to the team and harmful to progress then we'll need to increase the intensity and frequency of the confrontation. If it comes to it – you may even, ultimately, recommend that they run for a different team and that's ok too – not our first choice – but we have to value the mission, we have to value the other players on the team - and we have to guard the culture!

Shorter post for today – leaving time for your Friday comments – have a great day and weekend!

Confronting cultural challenges

2009-06-11T07:48:00.002-05:00

All along the way from Anchorage to the 'Burled Arch' of Nome there are checkpoints and veterinarian staff to help the Musher take care of His / Her team but the honest truth is that care of the dogs takes place more so between the checkpoints and on the trail then at the designated stops.

Leaders have to monitor the health of each individual member AND the health of the team as a cohesive unit. At times, individual behaviors are addressed and at time Leaders have to dive into the team dynamics to correct the pack's behavior. All done under the watchful and purposeful eye of the Musher and viewed from the vantage point of the musher's position in the sled.

When it comes to purposeful culture, purposeful 'beliefs and behaviors' and turning around cultural challenges here are some thoughts:

Create the 'Cultural Burled Arch'

Being able to recognize where your team is off the trail starts with knowing where the trail is and what it looks like – the more specific the better.

Know where you are now / Listen to the Metaphors

When you're out on the trail and you want to "get a feel" of the surroundings, sometimes you have to still yourself and just listen. Listen to how people feel, listen as they reveal their 'beliefs', and listen for telling metaphors. If your team is saying things like, "we're the runts of the litter" or "we're the cast offs from other teams" or "our department gets thrown all the scraps." These are telling metaphors that reveal the departmental or personal 'sub-culture'. At other times, you may need some external help (call them business veterinarians) to partner with you and diagnose the issues in the team.

Engage key 'Swing Dogs'

Bring 'Swing Dogs' (see May 19 post) in on the front end, gain their involvement/buy-in, and then let them be the influencers that they are.

Trail Map, Checkpoints, and Training Runs

Once you know where you are, where you want to go, and have the influencers on board – start running the 'Training Runs'. The second part of the definition of 'Culture' is: development and improvement through education or training. If we want the team to 'Behave' a different way – we're going to need them to think (Believe) a different way. This starts with creating new and more desirable metaphors, introducing the new mindset and then working through a consistent process to get them to accept, adopt, and own it. (Digest, assimilate, energize, run!)

Leverage Technology

Leveraging the 'Swing Dogs' is powerful, leveraging technology and the Swing Dogs – incredible. Create a social network, a company blog, leverage Twitter, consistently reinforce the message – create a tight knit 'Pack' of true believers wanting change, develop and communicate with them via these technologies and then leverage all of it to create the groundswell or 'avalanche' of change.

Dogs don't know what they did wrong yesterday!

Keep on, Keeping on.

Cultural change can take place quickly or it can take decades depending on the size of the organization and a number of other factors. Know the real picture of what your up against – but don't allow the size of the 'Race' to discourage you. Take it one step, one checkpoint at a time and realize you are on the road to a better culture.

Remember: It's not the size of the Dog in the Fight, It's the size of the Fight in the Dog! (Mark Twain)

Sled Team Culture by Default or Design?

2009-06-10T13:49:00.002-05:00

Sled Dogs will run with or without you! This is, exactly, why Rule #1 of mushing is, "Never Let Go of the Sled!"

The culture of an organization is the same way. Whether by Default or by Design – it will continue right on down the trail. As the musher – It's Your Sled and Your Team. The choice we have as leaders is to either 'Own' the culture or 'Abandon' the culture and like the middle of the Iditarod race – there's not a lot in between.

The culture of an organization, again, comes down to Integrating each player into an effective team and adapting, effectively, to the trail conditions (external environment) in order to survive. Over time as the team finds solutions to problems and experience 'daily running', they build up patterns of basic assumptions about how to operate and how to relate. These 'Patterns' or 'Beliefs' are then transmitted to each new team member as they are brought into the team. The 'Patterns' are created and recreated until they become engrained 'Behaviors' with deep seeded ties to the 'History' of the Team. The question is not if this will occur – the question is will it occur by Design, on purpose? And since they become deep seeded, I suggest taking hold of the Sled Handle and becoming purposeful.

As you start to 'Design' your team's Culture, here are some thoughts. Start with the basics of:

Who we are.
What we do.
How we do.
How we interact. With ourselves. With others
How we measure success

This can start the process of development:

Who we are.

This is our organizational DNA and desired future DNA: Stories from the Trail (Organizational or departmental history), Values (stated and unstated) – our 'Unique Team Genetic Code' and the source for our Organizational Pride

What we do.

This is our offerings, our product, our 'niche' and can be similar to the production side of the Vision / Mission Statement. (ie, we make quality products for a fair price for the Widget industry)

How we do.

The How is important to Race Performance. Without clarity around 'How' the race is to be run then our people are left to make assumptions. This can be what my friend, Jeremie Kubicek, calls our 'Secret Sauce'. It, also, sets the boundaries and the 'Race Rules' and acceptable and unacceptable performance methodologies. This area contains very specific, 'Roles, Methods, Metrics' and can be so innovative that it creates 'Competitive Space' allowing us to run on a clean trail, in clean air.

How we Interact.

Every team needs a 'code of conduct'. Rules for interaction and communication both inside the team and to our customers, vendors, investors, public, etc. The components of how the dogs are treated are under constant scrutiny from Animal Rights activists and speaking from my experience, the musher's deeply care for their dogs. In addition, they have rules for those that work with their dogs. But just as important are how the dogs will treat each other, other teams within our kennel, race officials, veterinarians, etc. Key pieces here Teamwork, communication, and employee relations!

How we measure success

This is so key to effective performance and to the 'beliefs and behaviors' of the group. Consistent communication around what we measure, how we measure, and constant reports from the trail relating to our performance and if we are 'winning' – whatever that means to us.

Like I said yesterday – we could easily spend a year or more on the topic – but we have more trail of our own to run today and so do you!

Run with purpose and ON purpose!

Discovering and Defining your Team’s Culture

2009-06-09T09:50:00.002-05:00

Why do the dogs run that way? Because that's the way they run.

Why does your team do that? Or members in your team act that way? Because it's what they know and believe and are allowed so, right now.

On the surface, many things are the way they are because that's the way they are, and that's likely to not change – unless you, as the leader, exert influence to change the process. It goes back to Newton's Laws of motion.

Checkpoints.

Whether you start with, immediately, analyzing your team OR creating the cultural vision and then using that as a "checkpoint" to gauge against – you, basically, have 2 parts – the way it is and the way I want it to be. Let's deal with the way it is….

The first step to discovering and defining your team's 'Culture' is to understand yourself well. Realizing that your own beliefs are driving your behaviors – that YOUR lens is bending the data – is important. How you view your team, how you view conflict within the team, how you view interaction, initiative, delegation, problem resolution, communication… well, you get the point. It affects every area of our leadership because it comes from our core.

There is so much to learn about in this area but I'm more focused on helping leaders than doing a dissertation on behavioral analysis – so let's cut to the chase and just do a fly-by. Beliefs and behaviors, for our purposes, will fall into a couple of areas.

Healthy / Unhealthy

Behaviors such as addiction, uncontrolled anger, etc. are, usually, easy to spot and easy to tag as unhealthy. But what about the belief that we will post pone preventative maintenance until after this fiscal year – so we can make our numbers? The belief is – the short term win will outweigh the long-term harm (or will deal with that problem when and if it occurs). Where do beliefs like this come from? Are we promoting this intentionally or unintentionally?

Natural / Adaptive

Natural beliefs will spring out of people's natural gifting or their personality (temperament) – they view things from a particular point of view based on whether they are Introverted or extraverted, analytic or relational. Natural Lenses are helpful in bringing out the various perspectives and rounding out the viewpoints.

Adaptive beliefs are created from learning of some type. From a base view, it goes back to some form of self preservation or self evolving.

Individual / Pack

All beliefs are held and acted on by individuals, but the question is more, 'Are these beliefs and behaviors that the individual only does when in the pack and/or for social approval/status/acceptance?'

Advancing / Limiting

Many within our team, including ourselves, hold to beliefs that hold us back. It's the aged but powerful story of the 4 minute mile. Once the 4 minute barrier was broken by Roger Bannister, within three years, by the end of 1957, 16 other runners also cracked the four minute mile. Where are our beliefs limiting us and where are they advancing us?

Again, we could spend a year or more with you or your organization around this topic – but just for now, just for this week…

What do we do? Why do we do it? Is it Healthy or Unhealthy? Natural or Adaptive? Individual or pack? Advancing or Limiting? And lastly, as an organization, intentional or unintentional?

What do we reward? What do we recognize? What is -50 Degrees (cold, hard reality)? Where are we conflicted / inauthentic? What do we believe about our customers? Our people? Our competitors? Ourselves?

My belief? It's that you can become a great musher with a great team on purpose!

Leadership and ‘Sled’ Team Culture

2009-06-08T12:19:00.002-05:00

All teams and all sleds have a 'feel' both operationally and relationally. Getting the feel of the sled is part of what we started talking about last week when we talked about learning your existing team and trying to stay 'right-side-up' as you launch with your new team. Let's keep on a similar trail this week I want and talk about the feel of your team and tying that to the culture of your Sled (organization).

Why?

In order to get the right results from our team, we need the team to 'Do' the right things. Not a complete guarantee of success, but it's the right trail to 'Nome'. 'Do' is action or performance, both of which speak to 'Behaviors'. From the previous posts, you'll know that one of my Leadership Mantras is that 'Beliefs drive behaviors'.

So what our teams are believing is directly affecting how they behave – how they operate both operationally and how they relate to each other, our customers, and our vendors. All of which can directly flow to 'bottom line'.

If we want the right outcome – we need to be intentional about the right actions. Again, if we want the right actions / performance then we need to be intentional about the beliefs in the team. All of this is wrapped up in the term 'Culture'.

Several definitions for Culture, the main one that applies here relates to 'Behaviors and Beliefs' of a group. In Iditarod Leadership, we talk about the discovery, understanding, changing and development of cultures for the purposes of running a better race.

Much like training dogs to run the race - Business cultures are developed through daily habits and reinforcement of those habits – either through failure to confront bad habits and beliefs or through positive affirmations of the right things. They are engrained in every aspect of our organization's 'sleds' and the teams within each; how they relate to other teams and, ultimately, they harden and form into invisible but very powerful rules of operating and relating.

Have you taken the time to back up and consider these?

A second component of the definition of 'Culture' is: development and improvement through education or training.

I love the second component because it implies that you can develop your organization's 'Culture' – that you don't have to accept that the way it is – is the way it will always be. You have the power to change your sled's culture – your teams operational and relational practices.

Sled dogs want to run, they love to run, and they want to please their Musher.

I believe the same is true for most employees. They want to do the right things and in their minds they ARE doing the right things. If they knew a better way – then why wouldn't they do that?

In order for us to 'Succeed on Purpose' I want to encourage you to take a good look at this area. We'll break this into sections and see if we give you some ideas on how you can move your team down the 'Positive Culture' trail by week's end.

Points to consider: What are our unwritten rules? What are the behaviors that are hindering our success? Why does my team believe that? How can I help them 'see' at a different level or understanding?

Changing business climates and lack of support...

2009-06-05T10:21:00.002-05:00

In any leadership position, newly acquired or not, there are going to be rough spots. Days when it seems like your driving a sled meant for snow over rocks and dirt. For the team, It can be like trying to run full speed over dirt and rocks in your bare feet. For the sled, it’s like being in quicksand. The protective coatings placed over the runners can get ripped to shreds and if you take a spill, it’s going to hurt.

Having those clear, insightful discussions about the terrain and how it has been affected by the recent “Business Climate” changes is urgently important. The earlier you know about the upcoming conditions, the more options you have, the more prepared you can be, and the more time you have to reduce the risk of flipping the sled.

Gathering information from multiple sources helps in these sections. For business in this area I like to involve both art and science.

Science is going to give us the raw and interpreted data. I say, “Interpreted” because for the most part when you are presented with the numbers, the person presenting them is going to give you their ‘Lens’ on those numbers. Having multiple people share their ‘Lenses’ will help round out your thinking and your options. This helps to ensure you don’t take a wrong course of action and either flip the sled or wander off course. What are the numbers? What do we believe they tell us? Why do we believe they tell us that? What make up the causes for the numbers? Is this an isolated climate change or a global crisis? Asking the questions will reveal telling answers AND can reveal more Frozen Rivers (see yesterday’s post)

Art is the ‘Gut’ side of the business for the ‘Manly’. This is where you or your team may have ‘Intuition’, insight, or you can ‘sense’ that there are changes in the trail ahead. Sensory perception, intuition, or gut feelings can be useful. Mushers who run their entire businesses on it can subject their teams to a lot of change and ‘rabbit chases’ – so use this with caution but don’t dismiss it totally.

I’ve been under leaders that could sense problems before my numbers ever showed the reality of it. In this case the numbers lagged the sensing. At other times the statistical analysis led the way. (if you want more on this click the button at the bottom and I’ll do a future blog on it)

For the 150 or so miles leading up to the Yukon river and then along the Icy coast there is very little support. Checkpoints and supply lines are further apart and the Mushers and their teams really fight the mind games that go along with isolation and dwindling support.

As a leader that is either new in position or new to leadership overall, make sure you know where your support ends and what trails you’ll need to go with little or no support at all. Try to minimize these sections of terrain until you have enough time in to develop support for those areas. Remember: your meant to lead the team from the sled – not run out front, grab a harness and pull the sled and all 16 team members! Firm up your support, get others on the same page and ready to pull – then you’ll reduce those ‘Barren’ areas. Don’t fight battles that don’t need to be fought yet – and don’t make everything a ‘Life or Death’, ‘Do or Die’ choice. There is a great quote that says, “If you make every situation a ‘Life or Death’ deal – You’ll be dead a lot!” I don’t know who said it – but it is very true.

If you find yourself in a barren stretch of terrain, keep the lines of communication open. Increase your communication to a mentor, coach, or peer. If you need to take a momentary trail break and rally the team – do it! The first goal is to finish the race – you can’t win, if you don’t finish!

Remember the learning points from the week:

1.) Take time to get to know your team

2.) Learn the terrain.

3.) Don’t be too rigid or make changes too fast.

4.) Let your team get to know you.

See you at the next ‘Leadership Checkpoint’ on Monday.

New Leadership and frozen rivers...

2009-06-04T09:34:00.001-05:00

Running my team behind Nils, he took his sled down the embankment and onto thin ice. The dogs crossed fine, but I could see the cracks in the ice and watched as the ice flexed under the weight of the sled and the rear part of the runners broke through. It seemed like slow motion as I saw the water wrap around the runners…

With the speed of the team and the rest of the frozen river being solid, it was a momentary dip, but knowing that I had to cross that same section of ice was unsettling.

Nils knew the terrain, how deep the water was, how the sled and the dogs would react, how that same area felt the day before, etc. In fact, he had been in that area and down that path for years. I needed to rely on his knowledge of that terrain.

Yesterday, we talked about the terrain of mountains and then checkpoints and equipment – more of, what I would call, immediate Operational Terrain. Today, I’m drawn to talking about the Cultural Terrain.

An organization’s Cultural Terrain consists of what they believe and how they behave. Behave as in behavior/action not behave as in obedience. It’s more about the DNA – with a caveat or twist.

Knowing the organization’s history – their background, how they got here, the path they took – the path of the Lead Dogs and Wheelers on the team. All of the information you can learn about this will allow you insight into their pattern of thinking (as individuals and as a group). The reason this is important is that it goes back to their “lens” that we’ve talked about before. Their “lens” is their “beliefs” and “beliefs” drive “behaviors”.

Frozen Rivers.

Frozen Rivers are those things in the organization that have solidified over time and are now “frozen solid” in the minds of the people. It has been termed corporate ‘Sacred Cows’ and can include anything from products to methodology to hierarchy and communication channels.

Having an understanding of these and the willingness to allow the sled to ride on some of this for a “season” is a mark of maturity. Make your list of things that need thawing and work for that thawing to occur as natural as possible. I say, “..as natural as possible” knowing that at some point you may have to break through some ice – but that point is not early on – or you’ll get so distracted about breaking the ice – you’ll stop running the race! Key points to thawing – understand that there is an undercurrent and if you feed the undercurrent with the right beliefs and methodology, etc. – the top will thaw organically – from the bottom up!

Full day today – so we’ll need to pick up ‘Snow-Less Patches and the ‘Icy Barren Coast’ later today in a second Blog – or tomorrow.

Remember – enjoy the trail, enjoy the team – and enjoy the Adventure!

Break out the map!

2009-06-03T13:35:00.000-05:00

Thinking about the upcoming terrain is important. Not knowing how your new team will react in those situations can scare the heck out of a new leader. Worse for the new leader would be if your team knew what was just over the horizon and failed to let you in on it.

The earliest part of the race is organized for the public fanfare of the ceremonial start, the “Big city”, the lights, the dignitaries and the send off. For the most part this area is intentionally sculpted for ease of start. Streets are covered with snow and the path is clearly marked while “Race Officials” make sure the interference is minimized.” This will, soon enough, end and taking the time to get the “lay of the land” is an important step to staying right side up.

No one would dream of being hired the day before or the day of the race, jump on the sled with 16 trained athletes capable of pulling 300 lbs each or around 5000+ lbs easily as a unit. However, in business, that’s about the size of it, right? We are promoted in a pinch and need to deliver incredible results fast, in difficult settings, with daunting obstacles.

In the Iditarod Dog Sled Race, there are a number of different terrains that teams face. Looking at just a few of those today and tomorrow can help.

Step 1 - Break out the map.

The primary method for understanding the terrain is to break out the map. A map will have all of the necessary information and with some insight will be incredible useful if you’ve never run this trail before. If you have, it will be the place where you record your refined strategy.

1a of breaking out the map is to study the key or legend. The key or legend is the filter or standard that allows the proper perspective. What may look like no big deal on the map may be, in reality, a life or death section of the trail.

With obstacles and terrain, the first question I would ask goes to timing. What is the next section of the trail and that becomes the immediate focus. From there, comes developing the game plan and all of the standard planning phases (short, medium, longer) but first, we need to know the next quarter mile – or in my case (when I flipped the sled coming out of the kennel) the next 100 feet!

Big Rocks first!

One of the major terrain areas is the Alaska Mountain Range. Since this is one of the most daunting obstacles – you’ll want to know how much time you have before starting up the range? Again, this is where you need the perspective of those that you report to and those that report to you. What looks like a hill on the map, can be a 6200 meter (20,000 ft) mountain. What is the first major hurdle? What is the major event of the year? When will these occur? What does our annual business cycle look like? Where are we in that cycle? Where are we about to drive off a cliff?

For me the largest obstacles were easy: Don’t hit the supply building and don’t hit the cabin.

Checkpoint and equipment!

The next question would be: Are we equipped for such a journey? What supplies will we need? How long do we run before the first stop? Am I properly outfitted for this? If not, where can I get the right supplies fast? Checkpoints are symbols. Stations are where you check in with race officials, find out if your timing is in line, get a fresh change of clothes, grab a little rest, but most important of all – refuel.

If you or your team runs out of gas (emotion, motivation, physical stamina, burn out) or your sled (department/division/company) runs out of gas (Capital, funding, resources, cash flow, support) – your journey is over - over before it has gotten to its’ “Burled Arch”.

Hopefully, you were able to do your homework on the sponsors of the sled (the company) before accepting the musher’s position – to make sure they could properly fund such an adventure – but even when you’ve checked it all out things can go wrong and economic “storms” can blow in and wipe it out!

Much more to cover on this - frozen rivers; rough, snow-less patches; gorges; and the icy barren coast…

For today, think about the terrain in front of you, who can help shed light on what that map looks like in reality and does anybody on the team see a mountain or cliff in the next run. Talk to you tomorrow!

Learn the team first!

2009-06-02T13:44:00.000-05:00

More than one leader has flipped the sled and had their race derailed by failing to learn dynamics of the new team.

At first blush, everyone will have their game face on (whatever that means to them). Some will come running up eagerly waging their tales and promising that they are the best dog in the kennel. They were meant to race. They were overlooked and underutilized by the last ‘Musher’ and they were just waiting for a new musher like you. This may be the case or it may take some time to realize that they are just licking one boot while ‘watering’ the other!

Others may come charging toward you with their teeth bared and their bark as loud as they can muster it. They will make all kinds of noise and let everyone in the kennel know that, regardless of who they install as the ‘Musher’, they are the real force to be reckoned with. In a vacuum of power or transition of power, they may be trying to leverage the opportunity to increase their status in the pack. Some of these may believe that they should have been promoted to your position and may tell you that. It’s ok – if their bark is worse than their bite, they will calm down when they know that you are not insecure. If you show weakness, they will smell the blood in the water and your days will be numbered. If you, immediately, start fighting someone’s going home in a body bag! At this point, you need the rest of the pack on your side – or it could be you being air-lifted out. Stay calm, look them in the eye, affirm their belief that they are a leader in the pack and then prove them out. Over time you’ll reel them in – remember the loudest skeptics can become the greatest and most vocal champions! If they do bite – you’ll drop them at the next closest checkpoint and the rest of the team will applaud you for it.

Most will sit back, wary of the new leader, waiting to see how many changes they will have to endure before you leave (through promotion or failure) and another takes your place. They are the cautious compliants. Time will prove your commitment to them and endear their commitment to you. They commit slow but once they do, they commit deep.

In any case, you will need to know the players that you have on your team: their capabilities and capacities. You must learn their “skill and will” to make sure that the race strategy on your clip board (coming in) is realistic for right now. If you, immediately, put your race plan into action without learning your team – you could flip the sled. And if I can be so honest – it’s your fault if you do. It’s not that they sabotaged your success – they were not at the right place, time, or mindset to implement that game plan and it’s the musher’s responsibility to know the team before leaving the chute. You’ll get there – hang on! You have great plans and dreams – and you’ll get there – it just may take a little more time to get started on the front end but you won’t lose time face down in the snow.

Early on – just take time sitting in the kennel – own the kennel – it’s your kennel. Take time to learn your people and give them time to learn you. Yes we need to get started. Yes we hunger for action and adventure! Yes we want those early wins! Just trust me on this one – flipping the sled early on is not pretty and it can cost you more than you want to pay.

Thanks for hanging out around this leadership “campfire”. Let’s talk about the terrain tomorrow.

Inheriting or taking over a new team? Try not to flip the sled!

2009-06-01T10:46:00.002-05:00

When I was first learning to Mush a dog team, I flew to Nome, Alaska. (This is the finish line for the Iditarod Dog Sled Race) I met some great people and linked up with Nils, who became my mushing ‘Sensei’.

I went through the initial learning steps and then it was time for me to run my own team.

For the first couple of days, the team was only 6 dogs and it seemed, fairly, easy. Since the Mushers in the Iditarod run with 16 dogs, we added a 7^th to my team. To make a long story short – in the first turn out of the kennel, as we were turning left the sled hit a bump (a tree that was hidden under a number of feet of snow) and I flipped the sled! For the next minute or so – I was holding on to the sled for dear life – not wanting to let go of the sled and jeopardize losing the team – and hoping that no one was taking pictures!!! (For more on this incident, you can read about it in the book)

The lesson(s) about being too rigid and “flipping the sled” early in running a new team are valuable for anyone taking over a new team or running a team for the first time.

1.) Take time to get to know your team

The dynamics of adding the additional team member and the ripple effects were things I should have considered. When running a new team, take time to get to know the players. Learn each as individuals AND how they interact within the team (watch this dynamic closely). How they are as individuals may change once they get back into “the pack”. Who are your new players? What are they like? What are the team dynamics?

2.) Learn the terrain.

Had I known about the buried obstacle and been strategic about it – I would have worked on an alternate route or devised a plan that would reduce that possibility. What is the business terrain? Are there some rocky points ahead?

3.) Don’t be too rigid or make changes too fast.

Without going into great detail, with the new team of Sled Dogs, I started out of the kennel standing on the brake. The previous days, I started on what is called the ‘drag’. The ‘drag’ is much more fluid, the ‘brake’ much more rigid. Had I not been so rigid, I might have survived the “bump” in the trail. As leaders, we value ACTION. We, generally, have the plan in our mind that we believe will yield success – if we can get it implemented. This plan, though, may not have been formed in this new department, division, plant, company, etc. It is, most likely, based on our previous experience and in order to make sure we have the right fit, it’s going to take time and insight. I have heard of several high level CEOs that informed the board of directors that they would not be making any major changes to the operation within the first year of their new leadership position. It was going to take that long to, really, understand the terrain and the team. Your team will probably not be this large and the learning curve may be shortened to 90 days. How do we strategize the first 30, 60, 90 days of our new leadership position?

4.) Let your team get to know you.

Hold informal sessions, meet once a week with your closest staff, eat lunch in the company cafeteria or with different people as much as possible. Try not to have an agenda. The purpose of these is just for them to be able to ask questions and for you to be able to hear what’s on their hearts and in their minds.

Just a few thoughts this morning on starting the race right and for those of you that have asked about strategy and starting with a new team.

Have a great day!

Trust is the basis for communication.

2009-05-29T09:32:00.000-05:00

Safety (and Self Preservation) are in the top 5 needs of Humans. When people don’t feel safe, when they don’t trust the environment that they are in – they can’t communicate. Their belief is that I will be harmed if I communicate. Cultures that lack trust, foster sarcasm, retaliate for open/honest debate, or criticize anything beyond the status quo CANNOT have productive communication.

Trust does not mean predictability of behavior, trust means a belief that there is safety, integrity, and a full desire for the best in the life of another. You could say, “I TRUST that John will use this information and twist it to his benefit.” Or “I TRUST that Jane will take credit for this idea.” Those are when the word trust is more about predictability. To say, “I TRUST that if Sue says the idea needs to be fleshed out a little more that is what she means” implies that you believe that Sue is operating with authenticity and integrity and not just trying to buy time to get her own agenda implemented.

Where is the trust level in your organization? On your team?

What are the factors that impact trust?

I’ll throw out a couple and then ask that the group adds more in the comments section.

· Hidden agendas

· Unresolved offenses

· Misinterpretation

· Overly competitive culture

· Lack of confrontation of wrong behaviors

What other points can you add to the mix? What are the issues that you have seen in the past that cause distrust?

We need Organizations and teams that can have the “rigorous” honesty and debate without fear of rejection, retaliation or humiliation!

When we spend more time guarding information, fighting each other, or simply closed off to working together as a team, we limit our success for the mission. Our “Trail to Glory” becomes more of a “Trial of the Gory”.

Many times sickness and disease can ravage a team and spread to other teams nearby in Dog Sled races. The cure is to treat each team member and it can take a number of weeks to get the group back to health. If it happens during the race, your race could be over!

There is hope! There are communication programs and remedies that can be put into place to grow and heal your communication culture. Step 1 of all of them goes to understanding and fixing the Trust level in the team.

Please jump in on this Friday blog and let’s discuss communication, trust, and having a healthy team!

When does perception = reality?

2009-05-28T11:45:00.000-05:00

You say, “Tomato”. I Say “TomAHto”. You say, “we’re going to change…”. I think, “What do you mean change? I like it the way it is now. I’m used to doing it this way. If you change, it’s going to mean extra work. If you need to change, it means I’m not doing my job right. Or the company is in trouble. Either way I’m probably going to lose my job. This is a terrible time to be out of work. I Hate rebuilding my resume. I hate interviewing. What about the house? What about the bills? …..”

You get the point.

All of us bend information to our own level of understanding. I call this the “Sunglass” principle. Light comes into our “Eyes” but before it gets to the final stage of understanding – it gets interpreted or “bent” by our “lenses”. Without going into a full discussion or session on “Belief Windows”, these “Lenses” are formed from our past experiences, both in our business and our personal lives. The resulting effect on the team is that communication that is not intentional is left to everyone’s separate “Lens” and, at each interpretation, it gets bent. Their Perception = their reality.

Intentional “Iditarod Leadership” Communication takes into account the “Sunglasses” or lens of the recipient(s) before the message is ever launched out there. The message is, intentionally, crafted to each person AND each personality type.

Bending the information to each personality type, basically, means we need to consider:

· How much detail or factual based communication each recipient may need

· How some are going to perceive it affecting their image, social status, or income

· How others are going to feel before they think

· And how some just need us to cut to the bottom line.

Most, if not all, will, immediately, want to know how it affects them and their future. Like it or not, most of us are wired to think of self and self-preservation first.

If the message is to a large audience or is to be cascaded, we will need to build the intentional model to make sure the message isn’t bent at each level or with each department or divisional leader’s agenda.

Intentional Communication takes effort, but with the understanding that it will take more time to clarify, re-engage, re-purpose, re-direct, and get back on track – the effort on the front end is well worth the price of admission!

When communicating to the team, do you consider your teams personality and lenses?

If you are on the team, Do you consider your leader’s personality or lens?

On the trail, in life and business, perceptions and beliefs drive behaviors. To ensure we have the right actions or behaviors we must consider when perception is bending the message.

Have a great day!