leader development – 3×5 Leadership

May 18, 2019June 2, 2019

Building & Reinforcing a Culture of Development

This is part 10, the conclusion, of the 3×5 Leader Development Handbook. I encourage you to start with the series introduction here if you have not yet.

Imagine so valuing the importance of developing people’s capabilities that you design a culture…[which] sweeps every member of the organization into an ongoing developmental journey in the course of working every day.

—An Everyone Culture, by Fobert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey

I like to imagine our organizational leader development processes like building a garden. We can envision what we want our garden to look like and what we want to get out of it – certain vegetables, plants, and/or flowers. We then build the actual garden in the selected location with high-quality resources. Finally, we plant our desired plants. However, we know that gardening does not stop once the plants are planted; that is only the beginning. Gardens require consistent attention – watering, pruning, re-fertilizing, etc. – all done and re-done season after season. Moreover, different plants have different needs like varied levels of water, sunlight, pruning, and types of fertilizer.

Our leader development approach is very similar. We can create the most robust, highest quality development process with impactful activities, but much like a garden, our developmental approach must receive consistent attention and “pruning.” Leaders must routinely and continuously reinforce a culture of development after we have initiated our processes and activities. Continue reading → Building & Reinforcing a Culture of Development

April 29, 2019June 2, 2019

Leader Development Through Mentorship

This is part 9 of the 3×5 Leader Development Handbook. I encourage you to start with the series introduction here if you have not yet.

When looking at the great leaders of the past and present, either universally known or just impactful in our own lives, we often see a trend that they were not self-made men or women. Considering some of the famous military leaders of the 20^th century, for example – George Marshall, George Patton, and Dwight Eisenhower – they all share a common thread through their careers: deliberate mentorship by Fox Connor.

I am no expert on mentorship, but any holistic approach to leader development is not complete without the inclusion of this topic. As leadership author, Dr. John C. Maxwell, states, “one of the greatest values of mentors is the ability to see ahead what others cannot see and to help them navigate a course to their destination.” We need help looking ahead, filling gaps, and making sense of experiences. Mentorship is essential to an effective leader development process and it is the final method in our Leader Development Matrix. Continue reading → Leader Development Through Mentorship

April 15, 2019June 2, 2019

Leader Development Programs: Creating Time and Space for Leader Development

This is part 8 of the 3×5 Leader Development Handbook. I encourage you to start with the introduction here if you have not yet.

In his book, Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni challenges readers asking, “how much time has been set aside for team building?” I echo this sentiment to leader development – how much time is being set aside for leader development in our organization?

Leader development is absolutely a process; it must occur daily, not in a day. As we’ve explored throughout this series so far, leaders need to create and maximize the types and quantities of touchpoints for leader development. On-the-job development, coaching, and feedback are great ways we can routinely develop our emerging leaders amidst our day-to-day duties. However, I believe it is also important to carve out dedicated time and space for deliberate leader development, where our people take a pause from the busyness of day-to-day work and focus on our collective leader development. This calls for formal leaders to create a leader development program (LPD) within their organization, which is the third method outlined in our 3×5 Leader Development Matrix. Continue reading → Leader Development Programs: Creating Time and Space for Leader Development

March 22, 2019June 12, 2019

Getting in the Arena: Creating a Culture of Truth & Feedback

This is part 7 of the 3×5 Leader Development Handbook. I encourage you to start with the introduction here if you have not yet.

I believe too many leaders in the 21^st century have lost the art of giving quality and relevant feedback to their people. Such feedback has become a novel experience for so many. In my own experiences within a nine-year career in the Army, I can only recall four instances where I received relevant, eye-opening feedback from a boss or peer that challenged my current ways of thinking and assumptions about my performance. Such feedback cannot be so novel if we desire to become an organization that prioritizes leader development.

This is so challenging, though, because it requires leaders to no longer hide by either using position to be exempt from receiving feedback or not demonstrating the courage to tell the truth about others’ performance. We must demonstrate the candor and care for our people to tell the truth, which makes our 2^nd and 3^rd generation leaders better and more inspired to keep getting better. This is what leaders “getting in the arena” is about. With practice and time, we become more comfortable in telling the truth to our leaders about their performance, growth, and potential, no longer making it such a novel experience in the work place. Ultimately, we hope that quality feedback (truth shared in love and care for our team members) becomes a commonplace and routine method of leader development that goes up, down, and across the organizational chart. Continue reading → Getting in the Arena: Creating a Culture of Truth & Feedback

March 7, 2019June 2, 2019

On-the-Job Development: Leaders as Teachers & Coaches

This is part 6 of the 3×5 Leader Development Handbook. I encourage you to start with the introduction here if you have not yet.

I have two whiteboards in my office; a 4×3 ft. one for big subjects and a 2×1.5 ft. “lap-sized” board for smaller scale ones. I’m using one of those whiteboards, if not both, every single day. I use them while counseling my Cadets, for teaching moments to help them make sense of new ways of thinking, and of course, to post the weekly #whiteboardwednesday quote. In fact, I just used my lap-board to draw out the first diagram below for one of my Cadets learning how to create developmental experiences for his subordinate.

I share this to communicate a key leader-developer lesson I’ve learned over the last year: every interaction I have with one of my Cadets is a “developmental communication” opportunity. I view every conversation I have with them, at an individual or collective level, through a developmental lens where I can teach, coach, mentor, or counsel. This applies to discussions in my office, passing a Cadet in the barracks hallway, during room inspections, training, meetings, a formal leader development session, or even running into them outside of the barracks on the way to/from class. Leaders can apply this same lens to their own people and organizational context. Continue reading → On-the-Job Development: Leaders as Teachers & Coaches

February 28, 2019June 2, 2019

The Domains of Leader Development

This is part 5 of the 3×5 Leader Development Handbook. I encourage you to start with the introduction here if you have not yet.

In our last installment of the 3×5 Leader Development Handbook, we introduced the Leader Development Matrix, below. It helps clarify the process of leader development into domains and methods.

Our developmental domains, which we focus on in this part of the Handbook, are the areas that we desire to actually develop our leaders in. They serve as the purpose and the goals of our developmental process. Domains answer the questions, “in what areas do I want to develop my leaders? What skills and abilities do I want them to grow in?” Continue reading → The Domains of Leader Development

February 15, 2019June 2, 2019

How Are We Actually Developing Leaders?

This is part 4 of the 3×5 Leader Development Handbook. I encourage you to start with the introduction here if you have not yet.

John Maxwell states that, “everything rises and falls on leadership.”

Jocko Willink claims that, “the most important element on the battlefield is leadership.”

GEN (Ret.) David Perkins asserts that in every organization he has seen in his 38-year career, the one “essential sauce” that was needed for success was leadership.

If success on the battlefield, in the workplace, and in our lives comes down to leadership, how are we deliberately developing others and ourselves to become better leaders? How are we impacting the 2^nd and 3^rd generations of leaders in our organization? Developing our people to become better leaders is far too important to merely resort to passive means or to leave it as an afterthought. We must implement a defined leader development process. Continue reading → How Are We Actually Developing Leaders?

January 31, 2019June 2, 2019

Self-Development Begets Leader Development

This is part 3 of the 3×5 Leader Development Handbook. I encourage you to start with the introduction here if you have not yet.

One of the most critical lessons I learned as a junior officer and the first piece of advice I offer to young officers is: the Army won’t teach you everything you need to know to be successful in your next job. You need to demonstrate some initiative and do everything you can to learn key aspects of that next job on your own before you get there.

To be successful as a leader and as a leader developer, there must be a deliberate and routine effort toward self-development.

Self-Development Before Leader Development

Self-development is the second step in our leader development approach, pictured below. Before you can lead others, you must lead yourself well. More importantly, you can’t develop others if you’re not developing yourself. Consistently growing your own knowledge, skills, and abilities must occur before you can begin to do the same for the leaders around you. It’s about setting the example as a life-long learner for others and inspiring them to ultimately take responsibility for their own growth. While role-modeling does not necessarily equate to leader development (you can’t develop leaders only through your personal example), it is a critical first step for every leader developer. Continue reading → Self-Development Begets Leader Development

January 24, 2019June 2, 2019

Creating Opportunities in Our Organizations & Making the Time for Leader Development

If you are new to the 3×5 Leader Development Handbook, I encourage you to start with the introduction here.

We claim that leader development is important and we always have the best intentions as leader developers. Then, life and work happen. All of the meetings, administrative work requirements, Soldier or employee matters to attend to, special projects, and more tend prevent us from finding the time to actually develop our leaders. Unfortunately, the non-essential urgent of our days tends to overtake the enduring important in our organizations – things like leader development. The next thing we know, it’s weeks and months later with no thought or action towards leader development but a mountain of busywork completed.

Before we can get into the meat of this Leader Development Handbook, it is important to address the need to create opportunity and readiness for leader development first. In this second part of the Leader Development Handbook, we address the first building-block of our leader development approach: managing our organizational demands. Continue reading → Creating Opportunities in Our Organizations & Making the Time for Leader Development

January 17, 2019June 2, 2019

Introducing the 3×5 Leader Development Handbook

I believe we all progress through a “leader growth journey” in our work and in our lives. In the different organizations and teams that we are members of, we enter as individuals, socialize into followers, assume the identity as leaders, and ultimately, become leader developers. The leader role can be formal, where we carry a title or assigned position of leadership within the organization, or it can be informal – achieving influence throughout the team (up, down, and across) regardless of our title or position. Most importantly though, there is a clear distinction between being a leader and leader developer. Steering the ship yourself is far different from teaching others how to steer the ship and affording them opportunities to do so. The differences span from guiding attitudes, routine behaviors, and leader priorities.

This project, offered through a series of articles, creates the “3×5 Leader Development Handbook,” which provides a holistic approach to becoming an effective leader developer. Continue reading → Introducing the 3×5 Leader Development Handbook