What’s the Difference between Feedback and Feedforward?

By James Brava | May 18, 2010

We know what feedback is, even if we frequently don’t like receiving it. And we don’t like receiving it for good reason.

Imagine a time in the past when you held a job in another organisation. The ‘phone rings and when you pick it up your boss is on the line. He says something like, “I want to see you in my office. Got some feedback for you.” What would you be expecting to hear about?

If you’re like most people, you’d be expecting to hear the worst. What the problem is, where you went wrong and what you need to fix; which makes feedback in many organisations one-dimensional. That dimension being what went wrong. Not much about what went right.

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Back to the Future

By James Brava | May 4, 2010

A recent post titled “How’s Your Vision” has been the most commented on post in the short history of this blog.

Clearly, many people regard vision as a critical leadership issue. But it should come with the warning – “Handle with Care”.

One of the drivers of employee motivation is people understanding the connection between their work and the organisation’s vision and purpose. People perform best when the vision and purpose makes them feel that their job is important. However, vision is insufficient to grow and sustain outstanding performance.

The ability for senior leaders to promote a compelling vision, and for frontline leaders to consistently remind people how their work contributes to the mission, vision and values of the organisation, is critical. But it is only part of leadership.

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Leading by Example

By James Brava | April 27, 2010

Leading by ExampleLeadership is not about your job title says Robin Sharma, author of the book, The Leader who had no Title.

In last week’s post I discussed the importance of frontline managers in driving organisational performance. This week, let’s examine leading even when you have no management or leadership role.

I’m a road cyclist. One of those guys who pour themselves into fitting lycra gear and acts like a Tour de France wannabe, just 10 – 15 kph slower than the real thing. While considering Sharma’s message I’ve come to the realisation that my actions as a cyclist have an impact on other people – on motorists, and therefore on other cyclists. Whether I like it or not, I take a leadership role whenever I ride on the road.

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Everyone’s a Leader

By James Brava | April 20, 2010

Leader With No TitleA recent article in the NZ Herald highlighted the work of Robin Sharma, author of the bestselling book The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari.

It turns out that Sharma is something of a leadership guru, in a personal development kind of way. For example, the marketing for his latest book, The Leader Who Had No Title, recommends that you ‘get ready for an amazing new life’ once you’ve read it.

For all the hype, his opinion is pretty much on the money in my view. Sharma suggests that leadership is not about the title on your business card. Instead the competitive advantage of any business comes down to developing the leadership capability of everyone from the people in the mailroom to those in the boardroom.

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How’s Your Vision?

By James Brava | April 12, 2010

How's Your Vision?Every organisation has a purpose. A story about who they are and what they seek to achieve. How this story is framed and communicated is a critical part of creating an engaged, motivated and productive workplace.

In last week’s post I mentioned the work of James Kouzes and Barry Posner, published in the book The Leadership Challenge. They identified five practices of exemplary leadership. The first of these they called ‘model the way’, which we discussed last week. The second practice they called ‘inspire a shared vision’. Leaders who communicate a strong vision are seen by their bosses and co-workers alike as more effective than those who do not.

One of the drivers of employee motivation (sometimes called employee engagement) is people understanding the connection between their work and the organisation’s vision and purpose. People perform best when the vision and purpose of their organisation makes them feel that their job is important.

The power of this concept is best illustrated in a story attributed to Sir Christopher Wren, the architect of St Paul’s Cathedral which was built in the late 1600’s. One day Wren was visiting the worksite for the cathedral when he came across a bricklayer diligently working away. Wren asked him what he was doing and received the reply that he was laying bricks. A little later Wren came across a second bricklayer and he asked him the same question. The reply was that he was making a living. Finally, Wren came across a third bricklayer and asked him what he was doing. With a gleam in his eye, the bricklayer replied that he was building a great cathedral.

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I Am The Way

By James Brava | April 6, 2010

I Am The WayPerhaps the most comprehensive research into leadership ever conducted has been undertaken by James Kouzes and Barry Posner and published in the book The Leadership Challenge.

Kouzes and Posner have identified five practices of exemplary leadership. Embedded within these five practices are ten behavioural traits.

The first practice they describe as ‘Model the Way’, which is essentially earning the right and the respect to lead people through direct individual action. One of the two behavioural traits identified within this practice is ‘Set the Example’. Leading means that you have to be a good example, and live what you say. Only then can you persuade people honestly. You might call this ‘leading by example’ or ‘walking the talk’.

With this in mind, Easter gave me the opportunity to think about the leadership of Jesus Christ. Christ consistently set an example for others to follow. In doing so he earned the right and respect to lead millions of people through the centuries since his death on the cross. I personally believe that when Christ said, “I am the Way” he meant that he was an example of what we all could do for ourselves. One of my favourite biblical passages to illustrate this is Mark 11, 27-33 and 20-24:

The next day, as they were coming back from Bethany, Jesus was hungry. He saw in the distance a fig tree covered with leaves, so he went to see if he could find any figs on it. But when he came to it, he found only leaves, because it was not the right time for figs. Jesus said to the fig tree, “No-one shall ever eat figs from you again! And his disciples heard him.

Early next morning, as they walked along the road, they saw the fig tree. It was dead all the way down to its roots. Peter remembered what had happened and said to Jesus, “Look, Teacher, the fig tree you cursed has died!”

“Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. I assure you that whoever tells this hill to get up and throw itself in the sea and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. For this reason I tell you: When you pray and ask for something, believe that you have received it, and you will be given whatever you ask for.”

No doubt you have an opportunity to set an example for the people you lead. Consider it a vital step in the leadership process.

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How to Boost Productivity by Taking Control of your Email

By James Brava | March 30, 2010

EmailOne of the tricks to maximising employee performance is to minimise any work that conflicts with your people actually doing what they are being paid to do.

For example, let’s say you employ sales people. You pay them to make sales. So, they’re most productive when they are interacting with customers and potential customers. If you require them to spend several hours a week on paper work and administration, then you reduce their effectiveness. Finding ways to minimise this unproductive time would be essential to maximising their productivity.

Similarly with your frontline leaders. Leadership is a contact sport. In order for your frontline leaders to maximise the performance of their team, they need to spend time observing, interacting and communicating with their people. In white collar work places there are two common activities that just get in the way of frontline leaders effectively leading their people for high performance. One of them is email.

The problem is that frontline leaders simply become a slave to their inbox. They allow the email they receive to dictate the shape and pace of their day, rather than putting in place routines that enable them to ensure they best use the time they have available. Leaving their email open means that frontline leaders frequently end up treating it as their number one priority. It isn’t. Leaders are paid to get results through others.

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Frontline Leadership is a Contact Sport

By James Brava | March 23, 2010

Contact SportGenerally frontline leadership development is focussed on an event, such as a training workshop. However, effective leadership development is more of a process which occurs over a period of time. This means that it requires much more than attending a training workshop. It requires on-going support, follow-up and feedback. In short, it requires on-going contact.

One of the keys to embedding frontline leadership activity is to measure improvement in the leadership effectiveness of frontline managers over time. Any increase in effectiveness can’t be determined by the managers themselves. Rather, it has to be assessed by their direct reports and their co-workers.

Typically, the assessment is completed by way of a web-based feedback tool. For example, my company developed a 180 degree feedback tool that we’ve branded as BravaTrak®. It asks each manager’s direct reports to evaluate them against a series of behaviourally based leadership statements. It also asks each manager to self-evaluate against the same statements.

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Stop Kidding Yourself

By James Brava | March 16, 2010

Stop-Kidding-Yourself-250pxWe all deceive ourselves about something. And mostly it’s harmless.

You know how it goes. My rear doesn’t look big in this. I don’t drink too much. I’m pretty fit.

But sometimes it’s harmful. I see this from time to time with frontline managers.

The other morning after a workout I was chatting with a fellow gym member and she asked me what line of work I was in. I told her that I’m a Frontline Leadership Specialist and that my business creates significant and sustainable performance improvement for organisations by enhancing the leadership practices of their frontline managers.

That got her interest, so she asked me for a couple of tips as she and her husband ran their own business. I mentioned to her that I’ve noticed that all high performing frontline managers have a strategy, or system, to provide frequent positive feedback to their people. She replied that she and her husband did ‘that sort of thing’ already. As the Tui beer billboard says, “Yeah right”.

How could I be so dismissive you may ask? For three reasons:

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Let’s Play

By James Brava | March 9, 2010

Let's PlayHow is it that we get excited by games and sports, but often not about work?

By way of example, let me share with you a situation I observed while I was at secondary school and university.

I grew up in Masterton, New Zealand. The town is known for producing a number of outstanding individuals such as musician Pip Brown (better known by her stage name of Ladyhawke) and Jemaine Clement from Flight of the Conchords. (Little known fact: Jemaine and I went to the same secondary school. Admittedly, I finished my last year there just before he was born).

My parents were rather poor, though I didn’t notice it at the time. Consequently they couldn’t afford to contribute to my university education. So each summer I worked at the local meat processing plant (the Waingawa Freezing Works) for three months, to make enough money to pay my fees and survive for the year. I mostly worked on the lamb and beef processing chains.

Masterton is an inland rural community. Summer temperatures can get pretty high, and the meat processing industry was highly unionised at the time. So inevitably there was a union enforced rule that once the air temperature rose to a certain level on the meat processing floor, everyone would stop work until the temperature dropped again.

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