What Executives are Reading This Month – October 2018
“If we don’t change, our business will continue to decline, but our people resist,” or “We are facing a disruption and we need to change, but our culture does not permit it.
When I hear this from a leader, the question I pose is, “What are YOU prepared to do?” They feel they have been doing all they can to drive change and are up against insurmountable odds. But, in fact, there are several ways that leaders encumber change and, dare I say it, cause it to fail.
Excerpt from 10 Ways Leaders Sabotage Their Own Transformation Programs by David Lee,
MSSBTI Executive Director, Global Change Leader
What Executive are Reading This Month
1. How to Build High-Performance Self-Managed Teams
The Medium / Mackenzie Folgeson
Building a self-managing high-performance team is any great leader’s dream. Folgeson describes the makeup of a high functioning, high-performing team. Backed by data, Folgeson shares the quickest and most effect way to align a team is to unify a team under one shared purpose. . Moreover, a team’s ability to be high performing is contingent on the group’s willingness to work cohesively with each other and independently when necessary.
2. 4 Signs an Executive Isn’t Ready for Coaching
Harvard Business Review / Matt Brubaker and Chris Mitchell
The number of business coaches globally has increased 60% since 2007. Many organizations have spent considerable amounts to invest executive coaches. However, as Brubaker and Mitchell point out – these investments could be gravely misdirected. There are plenty of “already-good managers” who may not need coaching and other’s who are simply not ready. How can we be sure we are in need of executive coaching?
3. 5 Simple Strategies That Will Help You Be a Better Leader Today
LinkedIn / John Eades
Leadership: a journey, not a destination. Without constant improvement and the ability to keep moving, leaders are unable to better themselves. A leader that cannot progress themselves cannot also help others progress. Eades reviews the unchanging fundamentals of leadership as well as what matters the most as a leader.
4. Leaders, Does Your Team Want You to Be Humble?
Harvard Business Review / Research adapted from Jia Hu, Berrin Erdogan, Kaifeng Jiang and Talya N. Bauer
Many successful leaders have thrived without any dedication to humility. Other leaders have adapted humility into their work environments but have not reached success. What is the pay off, exactly, for humility in the work force? As this article suggests, the benefit Based on the research report “When Being a Humble Leader Backfires”.
5. Stretch and Flex: What Leaders Should Know About the Future of Organizations
Forbes Magazine / Shama Hyder
The future of leadership is right now. Hyder predicts, “…winners will be leaders…that take things apart and put them back together in new ways.” There must be a clear difference between leaders of the future and leaders of the past. Instead of following century-old business organization structures, leaders must challenge and reconstruct the boundaries of an company’s fundamental makeup.
6. The Role of Leaders in Self-Organized Teams
Mike Cohn / Mountain Goat Software
If your team can operate, organize and excel on your own, that’s by no means an invitation to slack off. Instead of taking a back seat to a self managing team, become the leader that can inspire and incite continuous change. Teams that successfully manage the art of self-organization are borne of leaders who understand their responsibility. Not just to act, but to move others to act.
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