Drinking from the Well - Redefining Leadership Development

Hanging Out with Barry Posner (front right) and the Gang

Today, I attended the "Redefining Leadership Development" Forum at Santa Clara University.

The event was organized by my friends at Sonoma Learning Systems, and they did a great job. Kudos to Daren Blonski (who has a new twitter blog listed below) and Jeni Nichols!
I enjoyed seeing a number of old friends and making a few new ones.

The morning opened with Barry Posner (co-author of The Leadership Challenge and Dean of the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University) speaking about Sustainable Leadership.
I've been aware of The Leadership Challenge for about 10 years, first from reading the book, second from attending the class, and then by getting certified as a facilitator of the workshop. 

Despite my familiarity with the material (or maybe because of?) watching Barry was like drinking water straight from the source - fresh and energizing.

I'll share three notes I took from Barry's talk:

1. Commenting on the research that shows that our role models come from those who are closest to us - "The Question is not 'Do I matter?', but 'How do I matter?'."
2. "Leaders are always present, even when they're not... because they're always in the followers mind..."
3. Barry drew a correlation between personal values and scuba diving - "When a scuba diver gets disoriented, the advice is to release some oxygen and follow the bubbles. The bubbles provide direction to overcome the disorientation. Our personal values do the same thing. They provide direction during times of disorientation."
   I love that analogy.

Next up was Andrew Jefferson (President of Fort Hill company and co-author of The Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning). Andrew spoke about the road map for optimizing the impact of leadership training.

Here are three notes I took from Andrew's talk (I recommend getting his book, listed below):

1. "Learning program objectives should be expressed in business outcomes."
2. Quoting research from Ninth House, "The true impact of a Learning program is best predicted by the climate the participant returns to..."
3. "When the manager is actively involved, we see significant improvement in the learner. When the manager is not involved, we see no or minimal improvement."

After the session, Barry Posner offered us a tour of Lucas Hall, the beautiful new (opened Sept 14th) home of the Leavey School of Business. In the short time that we were with Barry, he modeled the Five Practices of The Leadership Challenge

1. Model The Way - Prima donna author? No way... 
   I caught Barry cleaning coffee cups and bagel plates from all the tables during a break and made a joke about it. He humbly deferred and changed the subject.
   Seen many CEO's engage like that lately?
   Didn't think so...
2. Inspire a Shared Vision - As Barry walked us through the rooms, he painted a picture of Hall in full use. He described paintings and full classrooms. He was clearly jazzed about this place. His enthusiasm was contagious.
3. Challenge The Process - One member of our group commented on the color scheme - another topic close to Barry's heart.
   He stated that the common color of Santa Clara is 'drab brown' and how he pushed for bursts of color to be splashed through the hall.
   "Not everyone likes it, but I thought it was important", he said.
4. Enable Others to Act - Barry used first names at every opportunity, gave credit to others, thanked sponsors, and pointed out how the lobby was designed to promote the Jesuit value of 'service to others'.
5. Encourage The Heart - He showed us the 'Kouzes and Posner Terrace', where every Thursday at Three, the staff goes to the Terrace for Thirty minutes of communing in the (usually) spectacular California weather.
   It's an event that builds relationships, shows appreciation and energizes the team.
   *the photo above is from this terrace*

These behaviors shouldn't be a surprise from a co-author of The Leadership Challenge, but... 

it's nice to see someone practice what they preach!

Links of Interest

• Santa Clara University
• Leadership Challenge.com
• The Leadership Challenge (book)
• Leadership 10 (Twitter)
• Sonoma Learning Systems
• Fort Hill Company
• The Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning
• Ninth House, Inc

A few more notes from Sonoma...

Here's a group that you'd like to spend more time with... in a place you should spend time in.

I have to say this... Sonoma is very cool. I'd never been there until a month ago.
It's got great restaurants, great wine (obviously), a beautiful town square, and nice people.

In this picture, our Leadership Challenge group and our hosts from Sonoma Learning Systems are combining all of the above (except the restaurant, which came later).

If you can make it to Sonoma , make sure to be there for the Tuesday night farmer's market.

In addition to live music, a great 'local' vibe, and some of the best flavored honey I've ever tasted (we bought two bottles of cinnamon honey and one of raspberry honey... yummm), Sonoma may be home to the world's best corn dog.

Here's Angie, modeling the Sonoma Spicy Cajun Corndog.
It's big. It's spicy. It's juicy.
It's got an awesome coating - not greasy or oily.

Everyone told me it would be incredible.
I didn't believe them... but they were right.

If you like corn or dogs or any combination of the two, go to Sonoma and get one...

From Sonoma: PREP

I finished the Leadership Challenge Workshop Advanced Facilitator Training today. It was a great experience.

Sharing energy and ideas in a room full of professional facilitators is a remarkable thing. As a group, everyone was open, curious, and authentic. 

How often can you say that about a room of 20 or so human beings? Seriously... two days of laughs, debates, hugs, bawdy language, and - oh by the way - deep learning.

Two of the participants in this session were instructors in my previous session. How is that for modeling humility and curiosity?
Kudos to Sonoma Learning Systems for the great event.

I've worked with KT for 20 years, so I haven't seen much of the outside corporate world. Sometimes, I'm surprised what I learn when I step out.
Today was a case in point. We had an 'under the gun' Q&A test as part of the event.
A facilitator stands up, and the master facilitator asks a mystery question. The facilitator gets 5 minutes to answer.

In our corporate learning group, we use a tool called 'PREP' to answer impromptu questions. I used it today and it went well, so I shared it.

PREP simply stands for

P - My Position is...
R - The Reason is...
E - Let me give you an example...
P - So, in closing, my Position is...

The first and last lines leverage two concepts.
1) clarity - tell them exactly what your position is. Don't make them search for it
2) primacy/recency - people remember the first and last things you say, so make them the same thing

Next, give a broad theoretical reason. Don't bog down in details. Give a framework that the brain can hold on to.
Then, deliver an example that fits your framework. The brain is so ready for your example now, that it goes down like lemonade on a hot summer day.
By the time you return to your position, you've got them hooked. PREP is literally, cognitive candy. It gives the brain what it wants.

Here's a live example to the question "What's the best tool I've ever learned?"

My position is that PREP is the best tool I've ever learned.
The reason I say that is because it's good for the user, good for the audience, and can be used in many settings.
Let me give you examples. PREP is good for the user because it provides a framework for answering. With a framework in place, the user can focus on content.
PREP is also good for the audience, as it provides signpost phrases that 'remove the heavy lifting' for the audience.
Finally, PREP can be used in many settings, like speeches, casual conversation, meetings, and written responses.
Again, my position is that PREP is the best tool I've ever learned.

Try it and let me know how it works.

Advanced Leadership Challenge

We're in Sonoma, California this week.
It's a Leadership Challenge Workshop filled with advanced facilitators.
It's a very tough crowd, and that's a good thing. We learn a lot from each other.

As I've challenged myself to write a haiku everyday this week, here's todays.

facilitators

teaching each other content

leadership challenge

Creativity, Magnetic Haiku, Water

I probably shouldn't tell you this, but I will. 

Yesterday, Angie and I drove over to the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn and Spa for lunch - they have great fish tacos - and then I, ummm, borrowed the swimming pool as well.

It was 90+ degrees and sunny, a perfect day to sit in the sun, read, and write poetry...

No, I don't typically write poetry, but I'm always looking for different ways to exercise creativity.
Last week, at Bookbuyers (one of my favorite used bookstores) in Mountain view, I bought the used Magnetic Poetry kit that Angie is modeling above. 

It's cool...

I don't know much about poetry (unless it rhymes with Nantucket), but I do like Japanese haiku.
My favorite thing about haiku is that it only uses 17 syllables (three lines 5-7-5).
So, we spent much of the afternoon trading haiku.

This is my favorite of the day...

And yes, it did win me 'brownie points' with Angie.

This morning, I woke up and wrote another haiku - this one inspired by the El Dorado Hotel, which we're enjoying very much, by the way (great restaurant and a balcony overlooking the square, which does have it's downsides).

white light through shutters
morning engines wake me up
edh hotel

Back to Sonoma

We're in Sonoma for the weekend, for a follow-up to Leadership Challenge.
I'll spend two days in teachbacks, and get the chance to see how others present the material.
I learn a lot every time I watch someone else facilitate, so this should be great (and the wine isn't a bad thing either)...

Eating as Learning

Roger Shank covered this way better than I ever could in his book The Connoisseur's Guide to the Mind - but I'll say it anyway - food provides excellent learning opportunities.

We're in Sonoma, California - which is, of course, wonderful wine country. It's also a great place to learn about olive oils and cheeses.

The photo above was taken during our dinner at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn and Spa.
After dinner, the crew brings around an amazing cheese cart, from which you can create a tasting platter.
We had cheeses from 5 countries (France, Spain, Holland, Italy, and California), including Cheddar, Gouda, a Trio, and a couple others I don't remember.

It may seem odd for me to say 'learning' and 'I don't remember' in the same conversation - but the palate and the brain are similar in that they both need to be stretched. A taste or idea that you hate today might make room for the taste or idea that you love tomorrow.

This was a good night, in that we stretched our palates without finding any tastes that we didn't like. The gouda was our favorite.... this time.

Attending The Leadership Challenge Workshop

Today, Angie and I head for Sonoma, where Brent, Ken, and I will attend The Leadership Challenge for 4 days.
The first two days will be spent as participants in the workshop. The second two days we will go through the process to become certified instructors of the course.

I've seen Leadership Challenge twice before.
I provided cultural support for a colleague who delivered the
course in Taiwan and Singapore.
It's a well designed class, based on an excellent book, and went over very well.

Data makes all the difference. If this same material (which can be pretty touchy-feely) was delivered to an executive audience without data, they would tear the walls down.
But a spoonful of data helps the emotions go down, it seems.

I'll update this post each day, with my observations.

Sunday, June 22nd

We drove up to Sonoma today.

It was 83 when we left Santa Clara, 59 when we passed through San Francisco, and 85 when we reached Sonoma - a good day for a top-down drive in the PT Cruiser.

We checked into our hotel, wandered around the Plaza, and then stopped at the 'northern-most mission in the California mission system'. It was closed, but had the oldest looking cactus we've ever seen.

Here is a picture of one of its flowers.

We then had an excellent dinner at the El Dorado Kitchen. Angie had halibut (the waitress told us that it was Rachel Ray's favorite dish) and I had tenderloin. And mojitos.

Monday, June 23

On Monday we explored the town, which is really nice. It's got a "Marty McFly Clock Tower Middle America" vibe about it. Good place to raise kids, I suspect.

Ken and Brent showed up and we had Mexican for dinner.
Right across the street were horses - it's that kind of town.

I can't remember the last time I got to pet a horse.... South Africa, perhaps? But I got to pet one today.

Tuesday, June 24
Class started today. It's a big group - about 25. Half our group are corrections officers - makes for a good sanity check. My biggest problem is a manager with a cycletime problem.
Their biggest problem is a murder-suicide in cell block 8. Ummm... yeah....

Amazed me to hear how spiritual and positive about the human condition these guys are. Both at our table talked about how 'prisoners are humans'. Pretty cool.
I'm not always sure that executive think front-line employees are human, so it's startling to hear officers with such a humanistic view.

The class itself is good, but struggles to compete with the attendees.

I once attended a Picasso exhibit in Boston and told Angie, as I watched the people look at the paintings, "I don't find any painting to be as interesting as a human face".

That's how I felt about today. The material is good.... but no material can be as interesting as the material of human drama. More lessons can be learned by listening (really listening) to life than by reading a book.

We had dinner at Mary's pizza with Mark Springer, a new friend from Montana.
Angie and I took a quick walk around the plaza, where the farmer's market was in progress.

We had a corn dog (first ever for either of us). It was highly recommended and was reallllly good.
So was the pizza we had afterwards. Yeah, a pizza and a corn dog....

Wednesday, June 25th

Here's a photo of Angie, Ken and Brent at the Swiss Hotel and Restaurant in Sonoma.

Today, we completed our Leadership Challenge Participant Session. Good class, good teachers, good insights. Well worth the time. We all look forward to becoming facilitators in this material over the next few days.

Thursday, June 26th

My new friends from CDCR
(California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation)
Dale, Eddie, Dennis, Ken, me, Todd, Cindy, Ralph

Now it's time to commit to the material. We have to stand up and deliver 20 minutes of content. My section covers Practice 2: Inspire a Shared Vision.
Teach-backs are my favorite part of facilitator training. It's very rewarding to watch a number of people provide a new 'window' into the material.
Often, when they start, I think, "I would never do it this way. What are they thinking?" By the time they finish, however, I'm thinking, "Wow! I'm going to do it this way."

Today was no exception. All the presenters (and this isn't always the case) were authentic and consistent with the material. As I result, I found some great ideas for delivering the material myself.
My section went well. I tried an exercise from the book that I'd never seen before. I wanted to see how it played out live. It turned out very well, so I'll use it with my first session.

It's great getting a safe environment to experiment in.

Friday, June 27th

Apparently, one of us is "Leadership Allen".
This photo is with Mark Springer. Mark heads up a company in Montana that does disaster recovery.

I've spent quite a bit of time with Mark over the past few days, and learned a lot from from his curiosity, energy, and intensity. We've made plans to spend some time with Mark to share some of our practices and tap into his expertise in crisis management.

I don't want to downplay our standard business 'crisis', because any business decision in our company effects 6,000 employees directly and countless others indirectly - but talking to Mark about the work behind disaster recovery puts our problems into perspective, which is always a good thing.

Today, we did 'speed-leads' - 3 to 5 minutes teach-backs of the material - with video cameras running. Again it was a lot of fun. So many great presentations.

I have to comment on Todd's presentation. Todd is one of my new corrections friends. He started his presentation by falling on the ground and proclaiming, "Everytime I fall down, I'm 6 feet 4 inches closer to success." True words demonstrated with conviction.

I'm still digesting all that I took in over these four days.
By all, I mean the material, the Somona Valley, the wine, the food, the time with Ken and Brent, the new friendships, the experience of watching others present, and the ambiance that you only get in a room full of facilitators who believe in the material.

That's a lot... I'm sure I'll have many comments in days to come.